


Dressed for Death

by Nohvarrs



Category: Constantine (Comic), Constantine (TV), Constantine: The Hellblazer (Comics), DC Extended Universe, Danny Phantom, Hellblazer & Related Fandoms, Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Crossover, Gen, John Constantine adopts a child, not really but
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2021-03-20
Packaged: 2021-04-11 09:27:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 22,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21538696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nohvarrs/pseuds/Nohvarrs
Summary: The list of people John Constantine feels bad for is relatively small.The amount of people who feel bad for Phantom is probably smaller.
Relationships: Danny Fenton & Bruce Wayne, Danny Fenton & Dick Grayson, Danny Fenton & John Constantine, Danny Phantom & John Constantine
Comments: 258
Kudos: 1202
Collections: Crossovers and Fusion Fics





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I posted this pretty late last night and forgot to add notes and fix the summary. Anyway this story will have multiple chapters and possibly some spin-off drabbles.

At this point in his life John Constantine liked to believe very few things could surprise him, however it was not every day that something managed to get inside the House of Mystery. 

Yet here he was, at four thirty in the morning, staring down one of the House’s many dimly lit hallways at a less-than-pleased looking child. Jade eyes glared venomously at him from beneath a curtain of white hair, glowing eerily against pale skin. Green splotches littered his face and clothes, oozing out of gaps in the black material- where cuts riddled his skin. This was not something John was prepared to deal with. He knew he was shit at dealing with people at the best of times, and this was a god-awful situation. 

There was an injured child slumped against one of the walls in his hovel. Wonderful. Suppressing a sigh, he stepped out of the doorway he’d been standing in and began heading towards the boy. “Right, I don’t know how you got in here-“ There was a bright flash and then he was cut off by a force that collided with his stomach. It knocked him off his feet, winding him in the process. John lay dazed on the floor for a moment as he slowly recovered his breath, watching the ceiling spin a little. 

Well that was just fan-fucking-tastic. Kid must have been some kind of metahuman to pull off something like that. 

“….Jesus that hurt…” He groaned. “You didn’t have to do that, I don’t mean you any harm.” As he slowly sat up with a wince, John was able to get a better look at the kid, and what he saw almost made him freeze. An almost invisible radiance surrounded the boy’s shaking frame and the cuts on his exposed torso had ceased oozing whatever that green crap was and were slowly closing over. Those eyes continued to glare at him however there was much less malice in them, it was replaced instead by fear. With what little strength he had left the child tried to cower away from him, half phasing through the wall with a pained wince. 

Now, John wasn’t one to pity people in any circumstance, but he wasn’t entirely a bastard either. And he wasn’t always a dick to children. 

He shot up from where he sat and reached out to grab the boy’s arm, internally cringing at how cold he was. That wasn’t anywhere near the regular body temperature for a human, what the fuck. Was he- no, he couldn’t be. “No, nope don’t do that.” He said. “I don’t know where you came from, or who you are, but I’m not going to hurt you.” As gently as he could he pulled the child out of the wall by his arm, it was a little difficult given how the boy struggled against him for five whole minutes before giving up out of exhaustion. John helped him sit down with his back resting against the wall, figuring it safer to let him rest for a little bit before attempting to move him. He wasn’t risking getting hit again with whatever the hell he’d been hit with earlier. 

John sat himself down across from the kid, keeping an eye on where he’d been injured earlier. The wounds were completely healed and not even a scar remained. Definitely a metahuman. An awkward silence settled between them as they stared at each other in the silent hallway at almost five in the morning. “Can you tell me your name?” John asked after a while. He wasn’t a fan of silence, nothing good ever came from it in his opinion. The boy remained quiet for a few minutes before shifting himself to sit up straighter, huffing with the effort. 

“……They call me Phantom. Who’re you?” Phantom squinted slightly at him, lips quirking downwards in a little scowl. “Just Phantom? Strange name…. I’m John. John Constantine, and I would say it’s a pleasure to meet you except you hit me in the stomach ten minutes ago, so it really isn’t.” The cringe that Phantom did made John regret part of what he said immediately after he said it. “M’sorry about that. I was scared…I….are you okay?” The scowl on his stained face deepened into a full-blown frown of remorse. Phantom hadn’t meant to hurt the man too badly, only stun him, and from the displeasure in his voice it seemed he’d overestimated the force he put into his attack. 

John shrugged it off with a sigh. “Its fine, I’ve been hit with worse. It just annoyed me that’s all.” His lungs still screamed at him with every breath he took but he wasn’t about to let the kid know that. He was already upset enough as it was. “So…how did you even get in here? And why are you out this late? Don’t your parents-” He cut himself off because judging by the visible flinch that racked Phantom’s frame, something he said touched a nerve. John narrowed his eyes as a thought dawned upon him. One he wasn’t too happy with. “Your parents don’t know you’re out, do they?” A slow nod of the head was the response he received. “….Do they know you can do those…things you did?” Another slow nod.

“Phantom what do they know?”  
“…..That I’m dead.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The House of Mystery acquires a guest for the night and John questions his decisions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since it's early here I decided to re-write the mess of a chapter 2 I wrote last night. I'm currently working on chapter 3 and if all goes well, I may have it posted by tonight (Irish time, its 4:25pm here, so I could possibly have it up by 10:00 pm tonight).

With his prior suspicion confirmed a sinking feeling settled in the pit of John’s stomach, mixing with the lingering pain, making him a little nauseous. Phantom was a ghost. He was a kid ghost, who was hurt and struggling to stay conscious. John had experience with ghosts and other similar spectral beings, he’d seen them do countless unexplainable things, though he had never seen them sustain any injuries. Not ones like Phantom’s. He’d never seen them heal themselves, either. 

John swallowed thickly as a non-verbal silence settled between them again, the only sounds in the hallway came from the old floorboards and doorframes in the House of Mystery settling. Phantom’s breathing had calmed down and almost evened out, the kid was no longer in a frantic state of panic. Good. John wasn’t good at soothing people. He ran a hand through his dishevelled hair tiredly as his brain processed this new discovery. “…..Not to be rude, but why would you come here when you’re this er…hurt? Why not go back to your grave?” John asked. He didn’t quite like using that expression but there wasn’t another way to ask. Phantom didn’t like it either, from the way he shifted uncomfortably where he sat.

“That’s a long story,” he began with a frown, eyes downcast and focused on the floorboards. “I don’t have a grave. There wasn’t anything to bury….as for why I came here….I didn’t mean to.” Phantom huffed. “I needed to hide, and this was the closest place to me. I’ll leave soon I just need to rest a little bit more.” He shifted again, stretching his legs out in front of him and rolling his shoulders with a low, satisfied sigh. To his relief his muscles no longer ached with every little movement and his energy was slowly but surely returning. Honestly, it was a miracle he’d managed to stay in this form for so long, he’d been expecting to suddenly revert back to his usual self at any moment. Skulker really did a number on him this time, but he was getting stronger. Thank god for that, he couldn’t risk exposing himself to a complete stranger.

Even if said stranger was kind of nice to him.

When Phantom looked back up he was greeted with the sight of a very unhappy man. John’s face had hardened, his eyes narrowed and a frown that bordered on a snarl stretched across his stubbled face. “O-or I can leave now,” Phantom stammered in fright. He was tired, sure, but he wasn’t about to impose on someone- “No.” The blond man snapped quickly, surprising even himself with how forceful the word came out. “No, you don’t have to leave. You can stay here for as long as you need.” John wasn’t sure why he was being so…so sympathetic with a kid he’d only just met. Maybe he was going soft, or maybe he was too nosey for his own good, because he wanted to learn more about Phantom. What he was, how he could do the things he could and, of course, how he died.   
Phantom stared at him with wide shocked eyes, his mouth opened and closed a few times as he struggled to find an appropriate response. “…I…uh thank you?” Nice one, you idiot! Part of Phantom wanted to slap himself in the face for sounding so damn awkward, but the rest of him was too stunned and tired to do anything else but gawk at John. “Right, so its sorted that you’ll be staying here ‘til you’re all good again.” John clicked his tongue as he stood up, reaching a hand out to help the kid to his feet. Good thing the House of Mystery’s had an abundance of rooms, he had somewhere for the kid to stay in until the morning. “This may be a bit of a strange question, but do you sleep?” He cast a curious glance at the boy, who blinked back at him.

“I’m dead, not an insomniac.” Phantom retorted. John rolled his eyes with a shake of his head. “Cheeky. At least someone ‘round here will sleep. Come on, there’s a room down here you can use for the night.”

John lead Phantom down the hall, around the corner and to a decent sized bedroom. It was obvious the room wasn’t used very often, though it was clean and had a comfortable looking bed, which Phantom was grateful for. Just the sight of the bed was enough to almost make him cry in happiness. Almost. He took a step inside, glancing over his shoulder with a sheepish grin. “Thank you. I promise I’ll find a way to pay you back for letting me rest here.” Phantom said as he made his way over to the bed. John rolled his eyes and shook his head again. “None of that now, you don’t have to. I don’t expect a kid to owe me shi-stuff.” 

Phantom squinted at him, lips pursed in blatant dissatisfaction. “But-“ “Nope! You don’t owe me anything, now go to sleep. We’ll talk more tomorrow when it isn’t the middle of the night.”  
“….But it is morning.”  
“Good night!” 

With that John closed the door to the room Phantom would reside in for the night, ignoring the cackle of amusement he heard on the other side of the door. What was he getting himself into?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Never offend the dead. It doesn't end well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaand its up! Kind of proud of myself for getting three chapters up in two days, though the next few updates probably will be slow given I have a lot of college work to finish for a deadline next week. Nevertheless I hope you enjoy! This chapter's a bit longer than the previous two.

During the remainder of the night the conman had spent hours flipping through books and stolen notes in hopes of finding out more about whatever Phantom was. John was certain, both from the kid’s own words and his research, that Phantom was very much a ghost. What he had discovered was that there were several different types of ghosts, those who were harmless (the type he was used to dealing with) and those who were malevolent (the type he was completely unfamiliar with). According to an old and worn book he’d consulted, the malevolent kind possessed a number of different abilities and were bound to the world by strong obsessions, and the ghost’s moral alignment depended on the obsession. So, John had come to the conclusion that Phantom was a malevolent-type ghost with an unknown obsession. “I wonder what ‘unfinished business’ you’ve got.” John muttered to himself, scribbling down a very basic list of abilities he assumed Phantom had. He made a mental note to ask the kid when he woke up later. 

Morning came with no more mishaps. John didn’t get much sleep as per usual, and he heard nothing from Phantom’s room until it was nearly noon. Phantom poked his head out from underneath the warm blanket he had wrapped himself in like a burrito, squinting at the sliver of sunlight that trickled through the crack in the curtains on the other side of the room. He felt refreshed after nearly a full seven hours of sleep. His limbs and muscles no longer felt heavy and sore. Rather than throw the blanket off, he decided to phase through it, he’d learnt a while ago that it made making his bed less of a hassle. Once he’d rearranged the blanket on the bed again he left the room, walking right through the door and down the hall. Phantom didn’t know his way around the house, and he doubted he would be staying long enough to find out, however he wanted to find John and thank him again for letting him seek refuge in his home for the night. Phantom felt a little guilty for intruding so much, but that guilt was outweighed by his gratitude. 

Without John’s help he didn’t know what he would have done last night. Unbeknownst to the older man, Phantom wasn’t as dead as he let on, and a part of him screamed at him to tell him. However, Phantom wasn’t entirely sure if he could trust John. Sure, he had allowed him to stay in his home for the night to stay safe, but Phantom didn’t know what John did or who he was beyond who he said he was. So, for the time being the kid decided to keep Danny Fenton a complete secret from John. 

He took a turn at the end of the hallway and floated his way down the stairs. He wasn’t sure why, but he felt an almost….cold presence in the house. It traveled down his spine uncomfortably, setting him slightly on edge. With every soundless footstep he took down the next hall he found himself keeping an eye on his surroundings. It was almost as if the house was watching him. Swallowing nervously, Phantom slowed his movements to a halt in front of a half-closed door, knocking sheepishly on it. He didn’t know what prompted him to knock on it though he was surprised to hear John inside and a loud “doors open!” in response. Phantom pushed the door the rest of the way open and stepped inside the room, his jade eyes travelling around a large room full of bookshelves that were stacked with all sorts of things. Books, random pieces of paper, strange objects and a few ashtrays. In the middle of the room there was a large coffee table surrounded by a few armchairs and a couch, and a fire burned in the large fireplace. Unlike the rest of the house, this room felt safer. As if it was a place where nothing could harm him or see him. Whatever the case, Phantom’s nerves calmed down as he entered the room, closing the door behind him. 

John sat at the coffee table in an armchair surrounded by worn books and old notes, a half-burnt cigarette lay in an ashtray next to a cup of coffee. He looked up from his scribbling to nod halfheartedly at the child. “Mornin’, trust you slept well since I didn’t see or hear you last night.” He greeted, taking a small sip of his coffee. Phantom made his way over to him slowly, cocking his head to the side curiously as his eyes drifted across the opened books on the table and the handful of notes littering the couch beside John’s chair. “I guess I did….what are you doing?” He asked, plucking the book nearest to him up off the table and skimming through it inquisitively. “Research.” John replied simply. “I’ve a few questions for you, mind answering’em?” 

Phantom looked up from the book he was looking through with a half-assed squint. “…..I’ll answer what I’m okay with answering.” John clicked his tongue but nodded his head in agreement. He supposed that was fair, it wasn’t like he could force the kid to answer stuff he didn’t want to. “Right, so I’ve been going through different accounts taken of ghost encounters, some of which had abilities,” John began, watching Phantom for any signs of discomfort. Instead the kid relaxed, taking a seat in the free armchair on the other side of the table, shrugging his shoulders as if to say ‘okay?’. “I wanted to know if you had any of them. I’ll name one and you just tell me if you’re able to do it, alright?” He asked, receiving a nod of agreement from Phantom. 

“Intangibility?”  
“Yeah.”  
“Invisibility?”  
“Mhm.”  
“Flight?”  
“Yep.”  
“This is a weird one, Ecto-energy?”  
“That’s not that weird, all ghosts can use Eecto-energy. We can even use it in different forms.”

“I’ll take that as a yes.” John muttered, scribbling down a note for later about Ecto-energy having many uses, and another note to ask Phantom about how he uses Ecto-energy. “What about telekinesis?” When he didn’t receive an immediate answer he glanced at Phantom, who was deep in thought. He drummed his fingers against the armrest of his chair, eyebrows furrowed in concentration. “…..Yeah, but I’m not very good at it.” John took that as another yes regardless. “I assume your speed and strength and all that shebang are much more developed than a human?” He was expecting a simple ‘yeah’ or ‘yes’ as a response, what he got instead made him snort. 

“Fastest I can fly is a hundred and twelve miles per hour, and gravity….doesn’t really affect me so I can lift things that are pretty heavy.” Phantom stated with an air of pride about him. There was even a hint of a smug glint in his eyes. John wrote that down too, he was fairly impressed with the kid’s abilities so far. Truthfully he wasn’t sure what he was expecting of him but having an extensive list sure was helpful. Knowledge is power and all that shit. “Anything else you can do? That was all I could find.” Phantom hesitated for a moment before he answered this time. “….There’s this thing I can do….it’s called Overshadowing, but most humans call it possession, ‘cept that’s a whole lot more….demon-y.” John sat back in his chair slowly, running a hand through his hair whilst he let his brain process what Phantom just said. 

Ghosts could take over people’s bodies? John wasn’t sure how he felt about that. “….Uh-huh. And how exactly does that work?” He asked. “We just…go into someone’s body.” Phantom shrugged. It was a very vague explanation but an explanation nonetheless. Before he could ask another question the kid beat him to it. “Okay you asked me, like, seven questions there so its my turn to ask you one.” Phantom sat forward in his chair a little, squinting at him again like he was studying him. He probably was. “Who are you? Like, I know your name but what do you do? Why did you help me?” 

That stumped John. He wasn’t sure how old Phantom was, he’d have to be careful with how he responded. He couldn’t outright tell the kid he was a conman, that probably wouldn’t go down well with Phantom. The bullshit but not totally bullshit answer would have to do. “I’m an occult detective who’s somewhat adept in the Dark Arts.” As much as his response made him want to gag, the boy bought into it, excitement lighting up his face. “Occult detective? What’s that?” Phantom nearly shot up from his seat and flew over to hover above John, however he just about managed to restrain himself. “An occult detective is someone who investigates paranormal occurrences, like ghosts and demons and all that jazz.” John explained with a dismissive wave of his hand. He didn’t want to continue talking about this with a kid, ghost or not. “So…..you’re like a superhero?” Phantom asked with a wide grin. John had to suppress a very heavy sigh and the urge to knock back the rest of his coffee. “No, I’m not a superhero, I don’t do that whole ‘save everyone’ thing that the Justice League does.” He stated, dragging his hand down his face and failing to hold back his sigh. “…..I’m sort of like backup but I’m not an actual member. Don’t think they like me very much, not that I care.” 

John cast a glance to his wristwatch, noting that it was nearly one thirty in the day and he hadn’t had anything to eat yet. He needed to fix that. “Now that that’s all out of the way, I think breakfast is in order.” He paused as he stood up, looking at Phantom for a second. “Can you even eat?” That seemed to strike a nerve with the kid because a look of thunder crossed his face and the next thing John knew, he’d almost been hit with a very heavy book. Had he not ducked he may have broken his nose. “What use do I have for eating? I’m- that was really offensive! You don’t ever ask a ghost that!” 

Whatever else John was expecting to happen, it wasn’t for Phantom to disappear.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny might have just been un-grounded but he may be stuck inside his house again if he gets caught. Thank god Tucker always had his back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few things to be aware of before reading this chapter. I know Zatanna and John have a history in the comics, but in the first season of Young Justice (in which this story is set) she appears as a fourteen year old and as a member of The Team, so for this fic I have tweaked a few things about her, John and her father.  
In addition, there will be more Tucker appearances and Sam will show up soon!

It had been almost a week since John had seen Phantom, the little ghost hadn’t showed up inside the House of Mystery since last Tuesday, but he wasn’t worried. Nope. He presumed Phantom could look after himself with the extensive number of powers at his disposal, though the state he’d found him in last Tuesday made a little voice inside his head doubt that. But he wasn’t worried. He never fretted about anyone but himself.  
A part of John doubted he would ever see the kid again, that he’d insulted him to such a degree that Phantom decided to stay away from him out of pettiness. Another part of him felt guilty for offending the child, which was an uncomfortable feeling for him that he hated. In an effort to distract himself from his thoughts, John threw himself into solving a case in Gotham City involving a possessed doll and two terrified flatmates. 

While Gotham was widely known as Batman’s territory and anybody he didn’t like wasn’t allowed within fifty feet of the city, this was a job for a master of the Dark Arts. And John didn’t give a shit about whether the Bat liked him or not. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Danny was jolted awake as he felt a sharp jab just under his ribs, rousing him from an unexpected nap. He jerked away from Tucker’s shoulder with an undignified yawn, stretching his arms above his head and rolling his neck to ease the stiffness that came with sleeping in an odd position out of his joints and muscles. “We’re almost there, dude. We’ve got ten minutes left before we’re in Gotham.” Tucker told him. “I’m still surprised your parents let you go on the field trip after you ‘snuck’ out last week.” He added. Thinking back on his escapade last Tuesday brought a slight scowl to Danny’s face, it had gotten him in immense trouble with his parents, specifically his mom. 

Danny lied about staying over at Tucker’s to finish a group project, but he had failed to inform his mom and dad of that arrangement until the day after when he came home at two o clock in the evening. He’d gotten an earful from his mother about worrying her and his father, and for not calling to let them know where he was. His punishment was a week-long grounding that had, thankfully, ended today. Danny didn’t want to miss the four-day field trip to Gotham City, partly because most of his history grade depended on it and partly because he would have a few days of freedom from the confines of his house after being grounded. “Yeah well I’m not that surprised, my mom usually only grounds me for a week at a time if and when I ever get grounded.” Danny replied, pulling on a hoodie and red bomber jacket over his t-shirt. With winter rounding the corner it was just under thirty degrees outside, weather warnings had been issued the day before and the field trip was almost cancelled, but thankfully it hadn’t snowed yet. “Still sucks Sam couldn’t come, I bet she would have loved it.” Danny sighed as he pulled on a beanie, pulling it down just over his ears.

“She really wanted to see the Batman, too bad her parents made her go to that family reunion thing. She’s so gonna ruin whatever overly girly thing her mom tries to stick her in.” Tucker hummed in agreement whilst zipping up his parka. “Do you think if we see him we’ll be able to get a picture? Like, even from really really far away?” He asked. Danny pulled his gaze away from watching the scenery passing by as they crossed the bridge to Gotham City, to look at Tucker with a raised eyebrow. A picture of the Batman? He hadn’t seen many pictures of the Batman in newspapers or online, mainly because he wore all black and rarely made obvious public appearances during the day. “I mean….we could try? We’re staying in a hostel for the four days we’re here, we could probably see him before we go.” He shrugged. 

After the bus pulled up to the hostel Casper High’s freshmen were booked into, the students pilled off the bus and into the building where Mister Lancer and Miss Tetslaff checked them in and assigned them roommates and rooms. By some miracle or act of god, Danny and Tucker were allowed to room together. That meant no Dash to worry about. The two boys dropped their duffle bags in their room after a small scuffle for the top bunk, they then double checked the contents of their backpacks (wallet, room key, portable charger, Fenton thermos) before heading back outside to join the rest of their classmates. Once Mister Lancer finished calling the role he hushed his students with a few loud ‘hush’s in order to make an announcement. “Now, I know it was a long journey from Amity Park to Gotham City and you’re all restless and excited to get the tour started, but before we start there are a few rules you’ll need to abide by.” He said with a semi-pointed look directed at Danny. 

It was always nice to know Mister Lancer never forgot any shenanigans he got up to or incidents he’d been involved in, Danny thought with a roll of his eyes. 

“Firstly, you are not allowed to go anywhere without adult supervision unless stated beforehand, that means without myself or Miss Tetslaff. Secondly, if we find you in possession of any substances you legally should not have, there will be immediate consequences and you will be excluded from the rest of the field trip. Thirdly, if anyone is caught breaking curfew inside the hostel, you and your roommate will be given detention as soon as we get back to school. Understood?” The man stated with a hard expression that turned to a satisfied and almost smug grin when he received a unanimous “Yes, Mister Lancer” in response. “ Excellent! Now our first stop is to Gotham Academy where we have been invited as guests by the headmaster for a private tour. Grab your roommate and let’s get going!” Mister Lancer announced excitedly. In Danny’s opinion only a teacher could be enthusiastic about visiting a school on a field trip, although Miss Tetslaff looked as though she would have preferred to be anywhere but on the trip. 

The large group of high school students began following after their teachers, walking in a somewhat straight line in groups of two down various streets and across a few roads. Along the way Danny saw some…..odd sights. One such sight being a sharp metal bat-shaped object wedged into the side of a building. Huh. He wondered how that got there. He was pulled out of his sightseeing by Tucker, who jabbed him in the side with his elbow yet again once they were a comfortable distance away from any eavesdropping ears. “So, are you gonna tell me where you were last Tuesday?” The tech-geek asked with a curious gleam in his eyes. “You only said something about getting attacked by Skulker, nothing……bad happened to you, right?” Danny made a mental note to look up the correct definition of ‘bad’ later on, but for now he shook his head. “Nah, I was alright. He chased me into some paranormal detective guys house, and I was too tired to come home.” Judging from the wide-eyed stare his best friend gave him, Tucker wanted a less-vague explanation. Or more information on the detective.

Tucker probably wanted to know more about John, and as much as Danny wanted to tell him all about it, something in his gut told him not to. But he didn’t want to keep Tucker in the dark or lie to him so the half-truth would have to do. This way he avoided a guilty conscience later on when he thought back to this conversation. 

“Before you ask, no, he didn’t try to dissect me or catch me. He did let me stay the night, which I know is kind of weird, but I was Phantom and he thought I was a ghost- he isn’t wrong but he thought I was a full ghost and now he thinks I’m actually dead.” Danny explained with a slight wince. Yikes. He just realised how dangerous that little sleepover could have been if John hadn’t been…well, nice. Or if he had transformed halfway through that whole meeting. “….anyway, he investigates ghosts and demons and things like that. The house he lived in gave me the creeps, but I guess it makes sense for him to live there with what he does for a living.” Danny finished. It was as they were rounding a corner near a small shopping street that he saw something that almost made him jump out of his skin. There, climbing out of a taxi with a cigarette between his teeth and his hands in his pockets, was the trenchcoated exorcist he’d been talking about seconds ago. Frankly the coincidence made the hairs on the back of Danny’s neck stand up in fright. It was also then that he remembered that he had just up and vanished the last time he saw the British man, which made him internally cringe at how rude he’d been. Damn it he had to apologise or his conscious would never shut up about it. 

“Uuuh Tuck, I hate to do this but-“ “Ghost stuff?” Tucker interrupted smugly, a smirk evident on his face as he held out his hand to take his best friends mostly empty backpack. Tucker figured he could just shove it into his own backpack to avoid suspicion, after coming up with an excuse to explain where Danny went once Mister Lancer or Miss Tetslaff noticed he was gone. The halfa gave him a relieved look, fist bumping him with an “I owe you!” before disappearing off down a side street and into an alley. There, once he was positive nobody was around to see him, Danny let himself transform into Phantom, a white ring encircling his body and splitting in two pieces that travelled up and down his body, morphing his cosy winter clothes into a black hazmat suit with a white belt, gloves and boots. His once raven black hair turned a shocking shade of white while his bright blue eyes became as green as the grass. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

John watched as a large group of teenagers and two adults strolled past where Chas had dropped him off, taking one last puff of his cigarette before he took off towards his destination downtown in an apartment complex. From the call he’d received from Zatara, two women were being terrorised by a supposedly haunted doll that one of them received as a gift. “I would take care of it myself,” Giovanni Zatara had said over the phone, “but I lack the time to and haven’t as much experience in dealing with the Dark Arts as you do.” The blond man believed him for the most part but strongly suspected that Zatara was reluctant to investigate the doll because his daughter would want to tag along. John had only met the girl a few times, but he knew very well how adept she was when it came to using magic. He also knew how stubborn she could be about anything and everything once she made up her mind about something. 

He ground his finished cigarette onto the lid of a public trashcan before tossing it in and making his way down the street, hands stuffed into the deep pockets of his trench coat to protect them from the bitter winter cold. “Should’ve worn another jacket under this.” John huffed, taking a turn into a shady looking alley. Before arriving in the city he had planned out a route to his client’s apartment with as many alleys as he could, purposely so he could avoid being out in the public for too long so he wouldn’t be hunted down by Bats and his weird little sidekick. “Its bloody freezing.” John grumbled to himself, sidestepping to the right to avoid stepping in a pile of whatever the fuck that was. “You think so? I guess I can’t tell anymore.” Said an amused voice from behind him, one he recognised immediately despite only hearing it a few times last Tuesday. 

John whipped around so fast he almost tripped over his own feet, eyes fixed firmly on the floating form in front of him. “Phantom.” He stated more than greeted. Either the kid wasn’t pissed off with him or he was about to get the beating of his life. “John,” Phantom returned with a sheepish grin. “I wanna apologise for getting so upset with you the last time we talked. I….shouldn’t have taken it personally. You didn’t know, so I’m sorry.” He averted his gaze in shame, scratching the back of his neck uncomfortably. Phantom wasn’t actually apologising for getting mad at John, he was apologising for having to lie to him in order to go home. Underneath the whole undead spirit thing, Phantom was a fourteen-year-old boy with some of the strictest parents he’d ever met. So being two-faced for a few minutes and acting upset with the older man was an acceptable price to pay in order to escape potentially being grounded until he was a hundred. 

“Ah, you don’t need to be sorry, mate. I should’ve known better. You’re a ghost after all.” John shrugged. While he may have looked cool and collected externally, on the inside he was incredibly relieved Phantom wasn’t angry with him. He had enough pissed off entities after him to last him a few lifetimes. Speaking of pissed off entities…. “Phantom, why are you in Gotham? You originally from’ere or something?” John asked. He didn’t remember the boy telling him about where he was from, just that his parents knew he was dead and Gotham was……not a very safe place, to say the least. There was nothing but silence from Phantom for a few minutes before the kid spoke again, his words startling John more than his facial expression. It was a look he couldn’t describe, something caught between pained or thoughtful or nervous. 

“Uhm…..the same reason you are.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes John hated how dumb people could be when it came to dealing with paranormal encounters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Danny really needs to get better at coming up with excuses. Part of this is inspired by one of my favourite movies/stories, three guesses as to what it is.   
Someone's mentioned here too but only for a few minutes.

The quizzical look that Phantom received in response to his answer made him nervous, he didn’t know what John was doing at all and now he regretted his choice of words. Dang it he put himself into a metaphorical corner there was no way of escaping. “And that is….?” John trailed off, purposely leaving the end of his sentence open for the boy to pick up where he left off with his answer. He didn’t expect Phantom to be able to seeing as the kid was struggling to find the words to reply, eyes darting around to look at anything except directly at him.

Busted.

“What are you really doing here, Phantom?” He sighed after a solid three minutes of silence. He wanted to ask if Gotham was his regular haunt- no pun intended- but he didn’t want to accidentally insult him again. Huh, that was weird. John had never been a considerate person when it came to other people’s feelings, yet here he was keeping a handle on what he said so as not to upset the ghost kid. “….Nothing. I just ended up here and I saw you and you already know the rest.” The white-haired boy sighed, shoulders slumping in defeat. It suddenly dawned on John that Phantom probably didn’t have anything to do most of the time and knowing that the boy must have existed without a purpose pulled a little bit of sympathy out of his black heart. Damn kid making him go soft and he barely knew him. Shaking his head with a barley concealed snort he pulled out another cigarette and lit it between his teeth. “You know, you never told me what happened to you to hurt you so badly.” He said after releasing a puff of smoke. 

Phantom redirected his line of sight towards the man and cocked his head to the side like a curious child, blinking at him with quite possibly the blandest expression John ever saw. “I got into a fight with another ghost. Its no big deal, I’ve been worse before.” He shrugged nonchalantly as if it wasn’t such a big deal. To him it wasn’t because, a few cuts and bruises were nothing compared to what Plasmius could do to him, or what he’d done to him in the past. From the look John gave him apparently it was a big deal. “You….fight….ghosts?” The British man said slowly, like he was trying to convince himself he heard Phantom correctly. The halfa nodded as he lowered himself to the ground soundlessly, the slight glow around his body illuminating the area around him in the dim alleyway. “Yeah, some of us aren’t very…..nice so it’s my job to stop them.” He explained proudly, standing just a bit taller as he did so. To all ghosts, it was common knowledge that every ghost had an obsession that kept them from moving on to the afterlife and instead bound them to the Ghost Zone, a realm that existed between life and death where spectral beings existed. In Phantom’s case, his was to protect. He was fiercely protective of the human realm and its inhabitants, especially his parents, sister and two best friends. Many residents within the Ghost Zone knew of his existence and avoided him like the plague, though there were some that tested their strength against him or straight up hated him for no reason other than his obsession was too pure for their liking. 

An odd expression flashed across John’s face, Phantom just about realised it was recognition before the man spoke again. “You’re that ghost kid that was on the news a few times! Inviso-Bill!” He exclaimed. Phantom’s face dropped as he pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned almost like he was in pain. “…….I hate that name so much,” he grumbled. “But yeah, that’s me.” Phantom had just gotten the citizens of Amity Park to stop calling him that, he thought the name was gone forever, but John just brought it back up along with a number of embarrassing encounters with news reporters. “My name is Phantom, though, and I’d really appreciate it if you called me that instead of the…..other thing.” His words were dripping with malice by the end of his comment. He couldn’t contain the anger that name brought upon him. John dropped his cigarette to the ground with a chuckle, using the sole of his shoe to crush it into the ground and out the pitiful flame at the end of it. “Fancy yourself a bit of a hero, do you?” He teased. 

He wasn’t expecting Phantom to nod in agreement.

“……Most, if not all, heroes are recognised by the Justice League,” he started, “and I don’t think they’d let a child into their ranks for ethical reasons.” He finished, watching the kids face for any signs of anger. Instead he was surprised to find a considerate look written across the boys’ pale face. Phantom scratched the back of his neck as a number of thoughts floated around his brain. “Well…..some of them have sidekicks. Like the Flash and Kid Flash, and Batman and Robin.” He pointed out. “Besides, I can’t die anyway. I’m already dead so I’m never really in any danger.” It wasn’t the whole truth, but he technically wasn’t wrong, in this form he was dead, and most things couldn’t harm him unless they were designed to combat Ectoplasm, in which case he could be hurt. However, the list of people with access to such creations was rather short and he was good at avoiding them, though his mom and dad did cause some issues for him from time to time. Judging from the disapproving glare John shot his way, he said something that he shouldn’t have. “Somehow I think that would make them a bit more reluctant to let you in.”

The conversation had died out after that and John decided to go about his business, though he had a tagalong that refused to leave him alone no matter how many times he told Phantom that he wouldn’t be much help and that he should just…..go away and let him work. The kid was about as stubborn as he was, John now knew what it was like to deal with himself and he had to admit he was a pain in the ass sometimes. He arrived at his destination twenty minutes before he was supposed to, the two women waiting for him were more than happy to let him get started with his investigation early. Phantom snuck inside with him after turning invisible, hoping to observe his work. After introducing himself he was brought into the living room where he got to work straight away. 

John took a seat in the living room across from the two women, removing his coat and folding it on the armrest beside him. The difference between his usual personality and work persona usually stunned the people who knew him for….well, himself, Phantom didn’t seem to take notice but then again he didn’t know him too well. John didn’t know where the kid was, but he suspected he was hovering somewhere close by, probably behind his chair. “An acquaintance of mine has already given me the general gist of what you two are dealing with, but if it isn’t too much trouble I’d prefer to hear your own accounts of your experiences.” Judy, the woman who’d contacted Giovanni, spoke first. She was young and working as a nurse in Gotham General Hospital along with her flatmate, Emily. Her hands, which rested on her lap, trembled as she spoke. 

“It started out small...like hand or leg was in a different positions. Then one day it was in a completely different room. It’s…….it's moving around by itself.” Judy explained with a shiver, her description already set off alarm bells in John’s head, but he decided to listen a bit more before coming to a final conclusion. “We…..we thought someone was playing a trick on us, but we never found any signs of intrusion.” Emily said, taking over from where Judy left off. “And that led you to believe that the doll was possessed?” John asked. “Yes. Judy got in touch with a medium. We learned from her that a seven-year-old girl had died in this apartment. She was lonely and took a liking to my doll. All she wanted was to be friends. When we heard this, we felt really sorry for her. I mean we're nurses, we help people. So... we gave her permission to move into the doll.” After hearing that John wanted to smack his head against the nearest wall to keep himself from screaming in frustration. 

Instead he steeled himself and nodded slowly, ignoring the sharp intake of breath he heard from behind him. He’d almost forgotten the kid was even there. “Show me the doll.” He said. Emily got up from her seat and disappeared out of the room, returning a few minutes later with possibly the creepiest looking doll John had ever seen in his life. Jesus Christ it looked like it crawled out of hell. Its face was covered in deep gashes, its hair was in two ratty pigtails and its dress was stained with dirt and who knows what else. Just looking at it made him want to kick it out a window. Judging from the almost inaudible “ew” he heard from behind him, Phantom felt the same. He didn’t appreciate the rush of cold air that the kid blew against him though, creepy little shit.

¬¬¬

The moment Phantom laid eyes on that doll two things went through his mind; it was pretty damn ugly and there was definitely a ghost in there. How did he know that? Simple. His Ghost Sense alerted him to the other spectral beings’ presence. He had to get that doll out of the apartment so he could either fight and capture whoever was in it or convince them to go back to the Ghost Zone. He was only half listening to John and the women’s conversation at this point, he was too fixated on that doll. He was at least keyed in enough to hear John tell the women that he’d take the doll of their hands and would deal with the thing inside of it. There was his chance to deal with the other ghost!

The investigation ended just after the sun had gone down. After saying his farewells and walking far enough away from the apartment, John turned down an alley with the doll stuffed under his coat and one anxious and now visible ghost kid hot at his heels. “Well? Did you enjoy eavesdropping?” John asked, sarcasm dripping off his words as he shot an annoyed glare towards the kid. He didn’t appreciate him stalking him as he worked, if that could even be called stalking. “There’s a ghost in it.” The kid blurted out. “I know because I can sense when other ghosts are around. I’m gonna help you get rid of it.” He stated. “And before you try, you can’t change my mind! I’m doing it whether you like it or not!” John stared at the kid with an exasperated look. The determination in his voice and eyes were too strong to fight against, he knew this because he had a sneaking suspicion Phantom had the same strong will he did when it came to this sort of stuff. 

“All right then, no use arguing with you if I can’t change your mind.” He sighed, shaking his head as he grabbed a hold of the kids shoulder and disappeared from the alleyway, unaware of a pair of cowled eyes watching them from the shadows.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes things aren't as sinister as they seem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally an updated after eons of nothing. I'm so sorry it took me this long to write the next chapter! I've been incredibly busy up until now, but with quarantine in place I actually have time to focus on this fic again. I would love to thank each and every one of you for the positive feedback you've given me! It's really motivated me to write again, and though this chapter is shorter, I promise the next one will be longer!

Bruce liked to think of himself as a calm individual. He felt like he had a high tolerance for putting up with situations and people he disliked, however he was very adamant about one thing; he absolutely did not like other members of the League setting foot in Gotham, and while Constantine wasn’t officially classed as a member of the Justice League, his threat level and the…things that followed him wherever he went made him a pretty big nuisance. Bruce was familiar with Constantine’s chosen profession and the abilities he possessed, he knew very well that the list of potential dangers he posed was near endless. He would deal with the magician later, for now his attention was focused on the child he dragged away with him.  
Last time he checked, the Englishman didn’t have a sidekick, much less a kid, or even a kid of his own. His eyes narrowed beneath his cowl. Batman would find out about that boy and then reprimand Constantine. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Minutes after grabbing Phantom by the shoulder, John had transported them both back to the House of Mysteries. Having travelled by magic almost daily throughout his life more times than he could count, he wasn’t affected very much by the aftermath.

Phantom, however, looked paler than usual and swayed on his feet. “You get used to it eventually,” John said before he made his way to the sitting room. After recovering from the dizzy spell that washed over him, Phantom trailed after him, hand absentmindedly brushing the Fenton Thermos attached to his belt. It rested comfortably on his left hip where he could grab it quickly to apprehend a Ghost during his scuffles. “You’re absolutely positive it’s a Ghost?” John asked him while placing the creepy doll on the worn couch in front of the fire. “Yeah, I know what I sensed,” Phantom reassured him, crouching before the doll with a squint. 

Man, now that he was face to face with it, he could wholeheartedly say it was creepy and very ugly. Who even smiled so widely their gums could be seen? With a grimace Phantom reached inside the doll with his right hand, having made it intangible, and pulled the Ghost that resided within out by its wrist. To his surprise, it really was a little girl. She had skin as pale as his own and hair as black as night, her eyes were a warm brown and her cheeks were dotted with freckles. She wore a blue dress and black buckle shoes and a red ribbon held her hair back. 

Phantom almost stood up in shock, however the small Ghost girl latched onto him in a tight hug, sobbing hysterically as her small arms barley reached around his torso. He was dazed for a moment and then he returned her embracing, mumbling soothing words to her in an attempt to calm her down.

Meanwhile, John looked on in baffled awe. Well, he had to admit Phantom was efficient but never in a million years did he expect him to pull a stunt like that. His eyes flickered between the girl and Phantom, he noted how her sobs slowly began to die down until eventually she stopped altogether. “……You were inside the doll,” John stated more than asked. Immediately her head turned to face him, brown eyes staring intensely at him. “….I got lost. I couldn’t find home,” she started in a quiet voice, “but…I found those nice hospital ladies and followed them home. Their doll looked really, really scary but I thought if I lived in it that I wouldn’t be lost anymore,” the child sniffled, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand and letting go of Phantom. “….I didn’t mean to scare them,” she hiccupped, “I just wanted to play.” 

Johns lips pressed into a thin line. On one hand she was just a child, he couldn’t give out to her for being scared, but on the other hand she was a Ghost and who knew how long she had been dead. Did Ghosts continue to mature after death? That was another question he’d have to ask Phantom when he got the chance. Sighing he ran a hand through his hair. “Don’t do it again and we won’t have any issues,” John told her. “I promise I won’t! I’m really sorry!” The girl replied, eagerly nodded her head. She turned back to Phantom and tugged on the sleeve of his hazmat suit. “I’m ready to go home- to go to my real home,” she said with a smile, taking his hand in her much smaller one as he stood up. The teenager flashed her a smile of his own. “Well I’m gonna take this one back to the Ghost Zone, I’ll tell you how that goes later,” Phantom said to Constantine. 

“Right, you do that mate, and for the love of god would you use the bloody door this time?” The man asked in exasperation, and then swore in frustration when he was greeted by complete silence and an empty sitting room. 

“Ghosts are really fucking annoying,” Joh grumbled, shrugging off his trench coat and lighting a cigarette, intending to do more research into his little Ghost friend. He was going to find out what killed that boy, no matter how long it took him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bette and Dick make the trip to Gotham Academy more enjoyable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I took so long to update! I got overrun with housework and online assignments. My last exam was today though! Wooohooo freedom!

Danny’s trip to the Ghost Zone was quick and uneventful. Once he found a portal and brought the little Ghost girl through with him, he dropped her off at Ghost writer’s lair without any more mishaps and learnt quiet a lot about her on the journey there. 

Her name was Anne-Marie, she was eight years old and her uncle was Ghost Writer. During his time posing as a teenage Ghost-hero, Danny had come to learn that Ghosts could have families, either those they met up with in the afterlife, or kids of their own that were born as dead as them. He respected those few Ghosts that had biological children, the need for a family must have been very strong to stick with them even after death, so rather than judge them he simply admired them.

Danny hadn’t thought far enough ahead about what he wanted to do with his life to know if he wanted to be a parent when he grew up, but it was nice to know he could be even if he was half dead. 

He was pulled from his thoughts as soon as he flew back through the portal and into the human world, momentarily blinded by the bright midday sun. Once he was back on solid ground he quickly found an alley he could transform back into Danny Fenton in. Once he was no longer sporting his alter-egos getup he contacted Tucker and found out where the school was. 

Turns out they hadn’t even made it inside Gotham Academy yet, they were still en route because Mister Lancer wanted to take the educational route and pass by every single monument and famous building. With a sigh of relief Danny quickly weaved his way through the streets of Gotham, avoiding any sketchy alleys or people, until he reached the group again. Tucker passed him his backpack and he slipped it on just as Miss Tetslaff began taking roll call. “Man, you are so lucky you didn’t get caught. What’d you deal with?” Tucker asked, whispering under his breath. “I’ll tell you about it later,” Danny promised.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gotham Academy made Danny feel very, very poor and under dressed the second the field trip entered through the school’s gates. Judging by the number of students walking around (in uniform, no less) it must have been lunch time. It was then that his stomach decided to make itself known with a painful twinge, he had breakfast at around six thirty this morning, and now it was nearly half past twelve in the day. He really hoped Mister Lancer let them have lunch soon because living in a body that altered between being dead and alive made it difficult for his metabolism to keep up with the levels of energy required to fuel his ectoplasm attacks. In short; if he didn’t eat regularly every thirty to forty minutes while in his living form, his body would start breaking down his muscles to make energy out of them. 

“Welcome to Gotham Academy, esteemed visitors from Casper High,” a tall woman in a pencil skirt greeted. Her greying blonde hair was pulled back out of her face in a tight, neat bun and her slightly wrinkled face was covered in a smooth, even layer of makeup. Her brown eyes and smile were as warm and welcoming as her greeting. “It is a pleasure to meet such an outstanding school. My name is Miss Bowden, I am the principal here at Gotham Academy. I hope the journey from Minnesota wasn’t too tiring. You’re all just in time for lunch, we have set aside an area in the cafeteria for you all to leave your things and eat,” She informed them as she turned and motioned for the class to follow her. By now Danny was accustomed to feeling eyes on the back of his head or receiving odd looks from people, however Tucker felt a little uneasy with the sudden attention. 

“Hey, Danny, is it just me or are these guys….kinda judgmental?” He muttered to his friend, trying to ignore the muttering and snickers he heard from various directions. Danny shrugged. “Maybe? They must be pretty rich if they go to a school like this. They probably don’t have anything better to do than judge us. Just ignore’em Tuck,” He flashed him a reassuring grin and slung his arm around his shoulder, changing the subject to distract the other. “…I ran into that guy from a while back,” he started, “he was here in Gotham doing some kind of….paranormal investigation. Anyway I tagged along with him ‘cause that’s pretty much my area of expertise, found a little ghost girl and brought her back to the Ghost Zone,” He told Tucker in a whisper, tone low so nobody would hear him. “Turns out she was Ghost Writer’s niece.” He finished just as they dropped their bags underneath the table assigned to their school in the cafeteria. 

“At least you helped her get home, but does that guy just go everywhere there’s ghost stuff?” Tucker asked as he fished his wallet out of his pocket so he could buy lunch. “Ghosts, demons and magic apparently,” Danny shrugged, pulling ten dollars out of his pocket before they headed for the lunch line. “He said it was his job. Dunno how you can make a living like that.” 

Once they had acquired their lunch Tucker and Danny sat at the far end of the table, laughing and joking amongst themselves and with a few of their classmates. Eventually a few students from Gotham Academy came over to socialise with them and welcome them to their school. Danny found them to be pretty nice and Tucker warmed up to them quickly. “Its nice to meet you guys, names Tucker and this is Danny,” Tucker introduced them both after the easy-going conversation had settled his nerves. “Its nice to meet you guys too, my names Elizabeth but everyone calls me Bette and this is Richard but most people call him Dick.” The blonde girl smiled. “Have you ever been to Gotham before this?” Dick asked, taking a bite of his apple. “I haven’t but my parents have,” Danny answered while thinking back to the times his mom and dad had gone away on business trips to try and promote their inventions. “A few times but only for football games,” Tucker told him. 

Elizabeth was a pleasant girl and Danny found that he enjoyed her company a lot, she was friendly, and her kindness made it easier for Tucker and him to forget about the judgemental looks thrown at their school and mutters they’d heard earlier. Dick was pretty cool too, he spent most of the time talking to Tucker about his PDA and other gadgets. Maybe it was because he grew up with so much of it around him, but Danny wasn’t interested in technology much. It just wasn’t his thing. 

Just as quickly as lunch had started, it came to an end. “Before the tour starts I wanna get a picture of us, don’t know if we’ll have the opportunity afterwards,” Dick grinned, pulling his phone out of his pocket and sliding into the empty spot beside Danny. Bette took the space next to Tucker and the four of them posed for a group selfie, smiling widely at the camera. “You two almost look like twins, its so weird but kinda cool,” Bette laughed afterwards. Danny couldn’t really argue with that, Dick and he had the same kind of blue eyes and dark hair, it wouldn’t be hard to mistake them for brothers.  
“Maybe we are and we just don’t know it!” Dick cackled, ruffling his own hair to match Danny’s side swept fringe. “Don’t move a second,” Tucker told them as he snapped a quick picture of them. “Oh my god you guys almost look identical. Danny you just have sharper cheekbones,” Bette said, looking between the picture and the two boys. “Tag your Instagram’s guys, we’re totally gonna stay in touch after this,” Dick told them, passing his phone to Tucker who passed it to Danny after tagging himself in the picture. Bette took the phone from him after and tagged herself whilst Dick fixed his hair again.

So far the visit to Gotham Academy was going well. Danny hoped things stayed that way.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John somehow enlists the help of someone he dislikes. A lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So sorry for disappearing for a long time with no notice. The pandemic and the quarantine restrictions in my country kind of sucked the energy out of me, but after finally catching up with my coursework, I now have time and energy to write again!  
Thank you all so, so much for the positive feedback and words of encouragement, it really means a lot to me! I hope you are all keeping safe in these trying times.

Never in his life had Danny been in such a pretentious environment. Aside from Bette and Dick, a vast majority of the students at Gotham Academy radiated an aura that could only be described as stuck-up. He could practically feel the judgemental sneers being directed at him every time he walked past somebody in the hallways on the tour. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After lunch the class entourage had been divided into several small groups and were each given two students from the Academy to act as their guides for the duration of the day. Tucker and Danny were lucky to be shoved into the same group, unfortunately they were also paired up with Dash and Paulina and their squad of goons. "Its gonna be a looooong day, man," Tucker sighed. Danny couldn't blame him for his lack of enthusiasm, he didn't want to listen to the self-proclaimed popular dweebs drone on and on about how cool the school was and how awesome all their new friends were.

Months ago he would have been thrilled that Paulina was in his group, but that ship had sailed long ago and she was just annoying at this point. He hated how open she was about her crush on Phantom. It was an embarrassment to her and himself in his eyes, because as long as he was Phantom, he was going to make sure he never acknowledged her interest in him.

"Do you think they even know there are other people here and not themselves?" The dark-haired boy asked his friend, trailing behind the squad of idiots at a slightly slower pace. He did not want to have to deal with Dash Baxter's obsession with Axe body spray and how weird he smelled. "Probably not," Tucker responded, scrolling through his Instagram newsfeed. He'd already made sure to like and comment on Bette's post of their selfie, and had taken care to do the same on Danny's phone. He loved his best friend, he really did, but sometimes Danny was completely hopeless and as long as Tucker Foley was around, he would absolutely not let his best friends social media die. He'd never be able to forgive himself. 

After following Bette's account he quickly clicked into Dick's and almost threw his phone away in shock.

"Dude holy shit you have to look at this!" 

"What?" Danny barely had time to register what the other had said before a screen was shoved in front of his face. "Dick is Dick Grayson! As in _Bruce Wayne's son!_"

His eyes widened in shock as he snatched the phone out of Tucker's hand, inspecting the profile himself. "_Dude,_" was all he managed after a few seconds of internal screaming. "Tucker he follows us! DUDE!" 

The duo was unable to concentrate on the rest of the tour, or anything else for the remainder of the day for that matter, because they were sort of friends with a literal celebrity. Danny may have or may have not decided to pay attention to his social media more after that.

  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

John wasn't one to follow a plan when it came to living his day-to-day life. He did whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted and never thought twice about it. That being said, he didn't usually imagine being cornered by the fucking Bat would ever be something that happened to him. Batsy usually left him the hell alone and John him, so having a small collection of more than likely unsanitary weird bat-shapped knife-things pinning his coat to a dirty alley wall was not appreciated. At all.

"You better have a damn good reason for ruining my day, mate," Constantine growled. He could escape his current predicament if he really wanted to, but he rarely ever pissed off the Bat, so he wanted to know what exactly he'd done to upset him so he could gloat about it later. 

"You know you're not supposed to be in Gotham," Batman started in his usual growl, "and you don't usually drag people around with you, much less children." His cowled eyes narrowed at the end of his statement, an obvious invitation for John to push the mans buttons. "Trust me I'm not happy about bein' here either, mate, your city makes hell look like Hawaii." John spat back. "I haven't been dragging anyone around with me, the bloody kid keeps showing up and following me around." He huffed. It was true, he never forced Phantom to follow him. The kid had a tendency to show up wherever he was.

After a minute or two of uninterrupted silence Constantine threw his head back against the brick wall with a huff. "Ow- Seriously though I'm not forcing Phantom to join me or whatever it is you think I've been doing." 

"He's called Phantom?"

"So he says, he doesn't remember his real name. Says its been a long time since anyone's called him it, so he's forgotten it."

John wasn't sure just how that very unpleasant encounter with Gotham's man of terror himself was going to end, but somehow he didn't imagine it would end with the Batman enlisting his help in investigating Phantom.....not that he was complaining, two heads were always better than one, and who better than the worlds _supposed greatest_ detective?


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Conman and the Bat are certainly not happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back again with a new chapter! Thank you all for the reviews and positivity from the last chapter, I really appreciate it!! <3 I apologise in advance for any spelling or grammar errors in this chapter as I am using a new writing program.

John knew there wasn’t a hope in hell that he would be honoured with a visit to the legendary batcave, instead he had the pleasure of dragging Batman to the House of Mystery via a simple transportation spell, the same one he’d used with Phantom. Batman seemed to recover faster from the effects that dimensional warping tended to have on those who didn’t use it very often, or else he was hiding his pain very well. Probably the latter.

“Right, well make yourself at home, take off your cape and relax because we’re going to be here a while,” John told him, throwing his coat onto the nearest piece of furniture as he made his way to the library. As Bruce made to follow him he got six steps forward before the squeaking of the floorboards beneath his feet started to annoy him. He wouldn’t admit it out loud, but he was sure the house was making his presence very known to Constantine, almost as if it didn’t trust him. Huh. And he thought he was paranoid.

Constantine’s library impressed the cowled knight far more than it should have. Not only was it stocked with collections of historical and scientific writings, it had books on the occult and multiple different types of magic (as expected). Bruce had to hand it to him, he was well prepared for anything that could try to fuck with him.

“Before we begin, if you have found anything out about Phantom from your own research, now is the time to share it before our notes start crossing.” Batman stated, crossing the room and busying himself with collecting a few books to begin searching through.

“Better get comfortable, it's a long list, mate,” John sighed around a cigarette.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With the tour finished, Casper High’s students returned to the hostel to relax for the rest of the day. Tucker struggled to open the door to their shared room, the lock was jammed and kept getting stuck every time he turned the key. It took Danny pushing against it with some of his inhuman strength to unstick it and force the door open. “If you have to do that every time I think you’re gonna break the entire door frame,” Tucker snickered, throwing himself onto the bottom bunk bed with a huff. On the way back the duo had decided that they were going to watch a movie or two for the rest of the day and just laze around. When night came, the plan was for Danny to run off as Phantom and hunt down Batman for a picture. If Sam couldn’t come to Gotham, Gotham would come to Sam.

Tucker set his laptop up on the bedside locker he had dragged out in front of the bunk bed while Danny re-arranged his and Tucker’s pillows against the wall. That way they could watch their chosen movie in maximum comfort. On the way back from the Academy they’d slipped into a small corner store to grab a few snacks and drinks, it was up to the students to sort their own meals on this trip so Danny and Tucker made a deal wherein they split the cost between them for dinner for the next four days.

“I can’t believe you haven’t seen this yet,” Danny snorted, placing the open box of pizza between himself and the other boy. “Man, you know how I feel about Marvel!” Tucker argued. “I love Spider-Man but they keep rebooting him! Let him be!” Since a very young age both boys had been interested in superheroes and as cool as it was to live in a world with the Justice League, something about the fictional Avengers team was enthralling. Maybe it was how different their team structure was to the League, or perhaps it was how majority of their heroes were also employed by S.H.I.E.L.D.. “Sit back and enjoy the ride! Far From Home is one of the funniest Marvel movies, you’re gonna love it!” Danny grinned as he hit play on the laptop.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The evening was growing later and the library was beginning to get darker, the lights in the dusty chandelier above the two men were old and in desperate need of new bulbs, however John hadn’t gotten around to renovating the House of Mystery despite having the house in his possession for the past few years. In the few hours they’d been flipping through different books and scanning through various texts and notes that Constantine definitely acquired through means that Batman didn’t approve of, the men came to two conclusions; Phantom was the first of his kind to actively go out of his way to protect the general public, and he was not referenced in any part of history aside from the last year and a half. That meant that their investigation would have to move online, seeing as the child was notorious for being mentioned in Amity Park’s newspapers and television broadcasts almost daily.

“I’m a little bit peeved we haven’t found out anything to do with why he’s trying to play hero,” John grumbled, scrolling through a news article on his laptop. “There isn’t even anything about where he comes from on here!”

“If the assumption that he actually is a ghost is true, and from what you’ve been able to tell me about him, then he probably comes from a place or object he was attached to in his past life. You said he doesn’t have a grave,” Batman responded, altering between various websites on his phone. He would have preferred to do this work on his own computer back in the Batcave but he would rather have tea with Harley Quinn and her hyenas. John stopped and glanced up at the other man from across the room where he sat at a rickety old desk. “ said he didn’t have a grave.....said there wasn’t anything left to bury....” The blond man trailed off as he went right back to searching online, moving on from news reports of Phantom and his activities to any deaths that had occurred in Amity Park in the towns recorded history. Who knew how long Phantom had been dead?

John made note of any children between the ages of ten and sixteen that had death records and then he went down through the list marking off anyone that had a place of burial in Amity Park Cemetery. “....Bats we got a bit of a problem,” The scouser mumbled, running a hand down his face in exhaustion. Several hours of research without a break really drained a guy. When he didn’t receive a response he continued, “All of these kids have graves....which means that either Phantom isn’t from that town and just does his whole ghost fighting shtick, or his death wasn’t recorded.”

Very few things in life made Bruce Wayne angry. He could count on one hand what those were, two of them being murder and harming a child in any sort of way. _Child murder_ made him so unbearably mad that he swore he saw red. “Or his death was never found out,” Bruce growled, the grip on his phone tightening with the anger that spread through him. Judging from the look on Constantine’s face, Bruce could safely say that he felt the same.

“I think we need to talk to him instead of reading shit online,” John grumbled while snapping his laptop closed.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tucker fell asleep somewhere around the hour-twenty mark during the movie. Danny couldn’t blame him, it’d been a long and tiring day and he wanted nothing more than to sleep, too, but he already promised himself he would find Batman and get a picture of him for Sam.

Shifting around as quietly as he could he managed to get off the bed without disturbing his sleeping friend. He hit pause on the move and shut down the laptop to save the rest of the battery before making his way over to the window. It was small but just big enough for him to see out of. The street bellow was empty, probably because it was nearly eight at night and most people in Gotham knew better than to tempt fate by wandering around in the dark. Danny knew how famous the city was for being one of the most dangerous places in the world.

He strode back over to the bed and grabbed his phone, sending a short message to Tucker about where he was going and not to wait up for him. Room checks were over and done with so he was clear to search the city for his target.

He transformed and flew out through the wall by the window, flying high up into the sky to give himself a better view of the city. Up here he could see a lot of different streets and the rooftops of many buildings. “If i were Batman then where would I be...” the halfa mumbled to himself. He’d read stories about the giant bat-light thing on the rooftop of the Gotham police department building. Maybe he would be there? Shrugging to himself he made a b-line for the police department, making sure to turn himself invisible to avoid being spotted by anyone. “Be kinda weird to find a kid on top of a cop building, and I dunno how to explain it,” Phantom snorted to himself. He landed gently beside the giant light, whistling softly in awe. It was huge! “How the hell did they get this up here! Its gotta weigh, like, a million tons,” the boy babbled to himself, reaching out and touching the cool metal with his gloved fingers.

“I wonder how it's turned on....” He glanced around the rooftop, though there was less lighting up here the darkness didn’t affect him very much. After gaining his ghost powers his eyes had become accustomed to the dark, it was sort of like gaining unlimited dark-vision in Dungeons and Dragons. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed a lever nestled between the Batlight and the doorway that led back inside the building. As far as he knew he was alone and nobody could actually see him. He was safe to pull the lever.

And so he did.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce gets a taste of his own medicine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, the long awaited meeting! I'm sorry if the ending is a bit underwhelming for you guys, but I do have a reason for it. I have several ideas of how I want this story to go and you'll all see when it reaches those points. Nevertheless, I hope you all enjoy the newest update! As always reviews and criticism are appreciated!

Bruce’s phone beeped loudly in his hand. The particular tone he assigned to the action that caused it was specifically for the Batlight, meaning he was needed by Gordon. He silenced his phone and shoved it away in a pocket in his utility belt, rolling his shoulders with a barley concealed sigh. “Research will have to be postponed for now,” he told Constantine, “I’ll need you to transport me back to the roof of the Gotham Police Department building.” He didn’t know where exactly John’s house was but he assumed that it was far from Gotham, his location app had been unable to give him an accurate reading since the moment he entered the house, one second he was in England and the next he was in Germany. It was almost like that house was constantly moving, and Batman wouldn’t put it past Constantine to have some kind of spell like that on the house.

“Duty calls for the righteous,” John commented in a mocking tone, summoning his coat with the click of his fingers. It appeared in his free hand and he threw it on quickly before grabbing Batsy’s elbow and transporting them both to the roof all the way back in Gotham.

Upon arrival Bruce was immediately aware that Gordon had not been the one to reach out to him because if he had been then he would’ve still been waiting by the modified floodlight. His eyes narrowed beneath the cowl, a hand slipping behind his cape to grasp a batarang. He was prepared for an attack from in front and either side of him, with Constantine behind him he was guarded enough to not have to worry about an attack from that direction. “Be on alert,” was all he told the Conman. John’s hands gained an eerie golden glow as he glanced around the rooftop, looking for anything out of the ordinary. “What happened t’me not being allowed to work inside Gotham? What, you want my help now? Make up your bloody mind, mate,” John sighed in exasperation.

Batman really fucking annoyed him sometimes.

“Just shut up and be ready for anything,” Bruce growled in a whisper. He willed himself to listen to his surroundings, forcing himself to ignore the other man’s grumbles of displeasure. Somewhere in front of him he was almost certain he could hear panicked breathing, but....there wasn’t anything in front of him. Not visibly, anyway. “Show yourself,” Batman commanded, voice raising. For a moment nothing happened, and then standing by the Batlight was the very person he had been searching for.

Gloved hands clasped around his mouth to keep himself from making too much noise as his panicked breathing slowly calmed, Phantom stared wide-eyed at Batman. Initially he’d been excited to see the vigilante show up, however when he saw the man get ready to strike, he had begun freaking out. While part of him knew he would be perfectly fine because he could phase through any non-ectoplasm based object, when Batman shifted to attack, one did not simply not freak out.

It was John who broke the uncomfortable silence that followed Phantom’s unveiling. “Jesus kid, you’re everywhere!” He joked, letting the magic energy he’d gathered in his hands dissipate and flow away. Bruce put his weapon away, eyes softening and pose relaxing. A moment ago he looked menacing, now the threatening aura had disappeared and Phantom could see why kids trusted Batman more than most of the League. He looked almost....calm, and friendly....in an odd way.

“I-Uuuuhhh.....fancy meeting you here?” He laughed nervously, lowering his hands behind his back and fidgeting with them. “You turned the Batlight on.” Bruce stated. Phantom nodded slowly, not that he needed to answer. It was pretty damn obvious that he was the culprit. “Why?” Bruce asked softly. He knew how scary he could appear to children so when dealing with them he tried his best to approach them in as gentle a manner he could.

He remembered what it was like to be a scared kid.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Danny really should have prepared himself more for this. What was he supposed to tell Batman? He used his special light to call him for a selfie for a friend? There was no harm in telling him that, not if he twisted the truth just the smallest bit.

Gulping, he nervously rung his hands together as he gathered his thoughts. “Well.....its kind of a long story and I don’t have all night......to be frank, I have a few human friends and one of them is this girl who really admires you, like a lot,” he began, “and I told her I could try to get a picture of you that she could keep ‘cause she can’t really find and high quality ones that she likes.....she’s kind of picky when it comes to pictures.”

It wasn’t entirely a lie. Sam _was_ picky when it came to pictures of herself and others, she would make an amazing photographer if she didn’t have an unfortunate disliking of most people. Phantom’s explanation was met by silence. He stared at both men, who stared back at him in utter bafflement. John and Batman slowly exchanged a clear look of ‘what before the caped crusader answered the young ghost. “And you know this alleged friend....how?” Constantine asked. He may or may not have squinted a little at his dead friend.

“Oh! Most of the kids and teenagers in Amity Park know of me or actually know me. They’re a lot chiller than the adults and authority figures, they hang out with me sometimes.” Phantom answered with a self-assured nod of his head, wisps of his silvery hair bouncing with the motion. “I appreciate it a lot ‘cause it gets kinda lonely being alone all the time.” Nice one Danny. Way to sound like a major loser in front of two of the coolest people you’ve ever met.

Somewhere inside his chest whatever remained of John’s heart tinged with pain. It must have been such a miserable existence for him, being bound to the world of the living for whatever reason. No family to go home to, no real friends to share interest with. Constantine didn’t have to spare a glance at Bruce to know he felt exactly the same, not that the man would show it. He had a freaky ability to hide his emotions well. Sometimes a little too well.

“Do you have a device to take the picture on?” Bruce eventually asked. It was a harmless request, Phantom didn’t seem the least bit threatening. He couldn’t see what malicious intent could lurk behind asking for a picture of him. Bruce had been asked stranger things.

The ghost boys eyes lit up-literally. Those green eyes glowed a shade brighter as a triumphant grin spread across his deathly pale face. “Hell yeah! Aw man thanks, she’s gonna be so excited when she sees this,” He wasted no time in pulling out his phone and floating over to the tall hero. “She let me borrow her old phone so I could get it, in case I actually found you,” he told Batman. He wouldn’t put it past the man to question him on the subject of how he owned a phone while being, well, dead. John would have probably questioned him on it too if he hadn’t covered his ass.

He unlocked the phone and opened the camera app quickly, flicking it to the front-view camera. Bruce crouched down slightly in order to actually fit in the camera’s viewfinder and smiled the slightest bit, while Phantom posed with a peace sign and a wide smile. Ah, teenagers. It seemed they all posed the same for pictures, he’d seen various posts on Dick and Barbara’s respective social medias with similar poses.

“Thanks so much! She’s gonna love it!” The child babbled, locking the phone and sliding it safely into one of the pockets on his belt. “I should probably get this back to her as fast as I can, I wanna see the look on her face when I surprise her.” Phantom said, taking a few steps backwards towards the ledge. “You’re going back to Amity Park at this hour? Alone?” Bruce asked, raising an eyebrow beneath the cowl.

It was almost one in the morning and Gotham was several hours from Amity Park the last time he checked, which had been early this morning, conveniently.

His concern apparently amused the boy. “Of course! I don’t have a curfew and what danger am I in? I’m already _dead_!” He replied, stepping backwards off the roof with a cackle. Constantine and the Bat rushed to the side of the building, Bruce with a grappling gun and John with a glowing hand, both ready to catch the falling child. But when they looked over the edge and down into the street below the boy was nowhere to be seen, vanished into thin air.

“Christ, almost gave me a heart attack, he did,” John grumbled, lighting a cigarette to calm his nerves. “Does he always do that?” Bruce asked with the faintest hint of concern in his voice. “Disappear without a trace? Oh yeah, it's kind of his thing.”

“.....So that's what that feels like.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The League may have to get involved in solving the Phantom's case. On the other hand, Danny and Tucker explore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry about the hella long wait again, I know I said I would be updating more frequently but my internet has been so awful and I've been helping take care of my family so I haven' had much time to myself. That being said, I hope you guys enjoy the newest chapter! It's a little short but I promise they will get better.

Sneaking back inside the hostel was very easy for someone with his powers. Once inside the room he and Tucker shared he made sure to check the window and the door, ensuring they were both locked correctly. Tucker was still asleep, but he had moved some time ago, now curled up in his sheets with his head stuck under his pillow and his glasses placed on the night stand beside the bottom bunk. Danny phased out of his ghost form and climbed into the top bunk, sending the picture he’d taken with Batman to Sam before he passed out from exhaustion. It had been a long and eventful but exciting day.

\-----

Tucker woke up at exactly seven AM and nearly threw his phone across the small room when his alarm went off, thankfully out of sheer force of will he pressed the snooze button and left the device resting beside his head on his pillow. Five minutes later ‘Nyan cat’ blared out of the phone speaker again, and before he could turn it off, Danny’s arm shot down through the mattress above him, grabbed Tucker’s phone and threw it across the room. Not hard enough to break it but with just enough force to get his point across. “Sheesh alright, I’m sorry! Don’t have to be such a drama queen!” Tucker snickered as he rolled out of bed and retrieved his poor phone from the floor.

“We don’t have to be up until nine!” was the only response he received from his superpowered best friend. Danny was fast asleep again in a mater of minutes and now that he was wide awake thanks to the other boy Tucker took the opportunity to ready himself for the day.

He started by plugging in Danny’s laptop to charge, having forgotten to the night before. Then he checked over the itinerary list that Mister Lancer had set for the trip. Day two consisted of a trip to Gotham History Museum in the morning, lunch at one o’clock and then the rest of the day to explore the city- within reason of course. Gotham was notorious for how dangerous it was so there was no way in hell that Mister Lancer and Miss Tetslaff would let them go down certain streets or stay out past eight PM.

He left the room with a new change of clothes, a towel and his deodorant, toothbrush and toothpaste. It was the perfect time to shower and dress himself before there was a rush for the bathroom later on when everyone else was up and about. Once showered and dressed he brushed his teeth and then headed back to the room, packing away his dirty clothes neatly at the bottom of his overnight bag. By the time he had sent a good morning text into the group chat he had with Sam and Danny, it was nearly time to wake the young hero up to get ready. Choosing to have his revenge early in the day, Tucker grabbed his pillow, stood on the bottom bunks mattress and whacked Danny forcefully over the head with it.

The body under the cover flinched violently and a loud, yet muffled groan of mild pain came from Danny. “Alriiiight I’m up, I’m up,” the dark haired teen sighed as he threw the covers off and sat up. He stretched his arms above his head, releasing a satisfied groan as his muscles let go of some tension that’d settled in them overnight. Not long after that Danny followed in Tucker’s footsteps and showered, brushed his teeth and dressed himself before grabbing his backpack to head to breakfast downstairs. He stuffed his laptop into the bag on the way down the stairs, slinging the left strap over his arm. They were late but at least they could grab something small to eat to take with them on the Museum tour.

\-----

Bruce rarely ever allowed outside parties to enter the cave but in cases such as this, he could make an exception. Their research had only narrowed down the possibilities of Phantom’s death to a very, very small list of outcomes. Either he had been killed and his body was never found, or his death was never reported, and neither answer sat right with John or Bruce.

“Huh...so the tales of the Batcave are true, and here I thought I was the only one that lurked in dark hovels,” John remarked as he exited the Batmobile with an amused smirk plastered across his face. “Seems fitting for you though, what with the whole creepy giant bat thing that you’ve got going on,” No amount of glaring from Batman would keep Constantine from passing the comments that he did. It was too good an opportunity for him to miss out on!

“Ignoring your childishness, we’re here to devise a plan to find Phantom and approach him on the circumstances of his death,” Bruce began, striding towards the large computer just off the entry platform to the cave. “To do that we might need to enlist the help of some Leaguers,” His fingers moved swiftly across the keyboard as he quickly brought up various League Member profiles to sort through. “Well obviously we’ll want Supes, what kid doesn’t love the big guy?” John suggested . His attention was divided evenly between sorting a plan out with Batman and admiring the interior of the cave.

He hated to say it, but he was very impressed with the layout and various gadgets within the lair.

“Good choice. As morbid as it is to say, Flash has the most experience with cases centred around investigations like this, so having his expertise in forensics and investigation could be a big help. If Phantom can’t fully remember what happened to him, Flash might be able to help piece together the incident with the little parts he does have,” Bruce replied. The odd look he received from John after almost made him sigh in exasperation. “I may have a strong reputation as a detective, but even I know when it's best to get help on something as big as this,” the bat explained.

“So there is reason beneath the stubborn! Guess that answers the age-old question, doesn’t it? Batman actually is human!” The Hellblazer laughed, reaching for a cigarette. “No smoking inside,” Bruce scolded with a rather venomous glare.

John answered him by placing the cigarette between his lips and lighting it anyway. 


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John feels sad, Barry feels sick and Alfred is done with John's hit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back with a longer update! Thank you all so much for your enthusiasm with my previous chapter, I'm so glad you enjoyed it so much! As promised things are starting to get more interesting!  
Shoutout to Evil_Fanfictionist for the wonderful Ghost Writer Cameo idea! It was the perfect addition to this story to get things rolling in motion!  
I hope you guys enjoy! Also its currently 02:30 AM here in Ireland and its St. Patrick's day so Happy Paddy's day lads!

“So.... you're tellin’ me that you and Constantine are trying to solve what you think is a murder....and that you’ve been in contact with the deceased?” 

Barry Allen would’ve assumed he heard Bruce wrong if it weren’t for how Clark was already on board with the entire idea already. He ran a hand down his unmasked face in exasperation, sighing heavily and sagging in his seat. “And you can’t deal with this on your own....why?” He cast his query towards John, lifting his head with a raised eyebrow and a deep frown tugging at his lips.  
“I don’t usually deal with this kind of shit and I don’t like knowing that some innocent child is running around doing hero shite for god knows what reason. That is why I need your help, Barry.” 

The speedster leaned back in his chair and thought for a moment. He, too, didn’t particularly like the thought of a kid running around playing hero, unsupervised and especially not dead. Sighing again he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Alright I’ll help you. But don’t complain to me if any of my methods make you uncomfortable, its part of my job.” 

\-------

The museum tour was just as boring as Danny and Tucker anticipated it would be. They were stuck in a group with Dash, Paulina and their crew again, which was about as fun as herding cats. The duo were left unbothered for majority of the tour until after when the class groups joined up together again and Dash decided to start being a pain in the ass. At first, he was only making annoying comments about the displays and how bored he was, then he started pointing out similarities between Tucker and Danny in some of the wax models in the displays. Nothing they couldn’t brush off until the jock struck a nerve with the halfa. 

“Y’know Fenton you look like you crawled straight outta- what’s it called? The Dark Ages? “ he started with a snort, “you’re so pale and you got hideous dark circles under your eyes, what’s wrong? You sick or somethin’”  
“He probably has the plague!” Someone in their group called out. The resounding laughter from the class was drowned out by the rush of blood in Danny’s head that came with his anger. Rarely did he get upset with people making quips about him, but his appearance was something he had grown very touchy over in the past few months. 

He remembered Vlad (on the rare occasion he wasn’t trying to kill him or his dad or marry his mom) telling him that it was normal for Ghosts to grow insecure about how they looked and that they, as the only halfa hybrids in the entire world, would be particularly self-concious of their physical appearance because they were forced to live in the human world where they would be constantly reminded of how strange they really were. 

So it was only natural that Danny almost lunged at Dash to punch him, and he would have, if Tucker hadn’t grabbed his backpack and yanked him away from his bully before anything bad could happen. “Dude just ignore him, he would’ve been dead in the Dark Ages way before you anyway, natural selection and all that shit,” Tucker muttered to him as he dragged him to the back of the tour group, away from the cruel snickers and jeers of their peers. “One of these days I’m gonna get him, I swear,” the dark haired teen sighed. “Yeah I know and Imma be there to record it all. World Staaaaar!” 

Danny tried to stifle his laugh, but he couldn’t hide his amused smile. Tucker always knew just how to cheer him up, he really would be lost without him. “Gather round children! There has been a slight change to the itinerary. Because a vast majority of you all behaved so well, you can head to lunch on you own wherever you like. We are going to leave the museum now and after, once you’ve informed myself and Miss Tetslaff about what you’re going to do for the rest of the day, you can go explore the city,” Mister Lancer began, “but remember; you cannot go anywhere we’ve marked on these maps as dangerous. Remember to stay near the city center and under no circumstances are you to talk to any strangers or go down any alleyways, am I understood?”  
A chorus of “yes, Mister Lancer” satisfied the man, and he and Miss Tetslaff began handing out maps and making small talk with the more enthusiastic students. Once Tucker and Danny had their maps they rushed out of the building and made straight for the nearest Starbucks. 

“So since we need to have our history project finished the week after we get back, why don’t we start on it now during lunch and do some more tonight back in the room? Saves us time, and we won’t have to worry about you get sidetracked by ghost attacks,” Tucker suggested. “Yeah I think thats a good idea. We still good to split Sam’s workload and help her get ready for the PowerPoint presentation when we get back? Also you want your usual?” Danny asked, pulling open the door to the cafe and letting his friend in before him. “Hell yeah man, can’t leave her hanging like that. Get me a doughnut too and I’ll pay you back later,” Tucker answered as he made a b-line for a table near the back of the cafe, right next to a wall with three plugs. 

“No worries bro, I got it!” Danny laughed lightly while he queued up at the counter and ordered their lunch. Once their food and drinks were paid for and picked up he seated himself at the table, across from Tucker and pulled out his laptop to begin writing up his part of the project. Not having a museum in Amity Park kind of sucked but at least they got to come to Gotham to do their research. A four-day-long research trip might’ve been a bit excessive but it was so worth it if only for the fun and freedom. “So anyway, what was Batman like?” 

Ah right. Sam totally showed Tucker the picture. “He was....a lot nicer than I thought he would be. Plus that Constantine guy was there again,” Danny said, typing away in microsoft word. Actually now that he thought about it, it was pretty strange for the Englishman to be with Batman. Both because everyone knew Batman worked alone when in Gotham and because it was like the third time Danny had met Constantine. “....You don’t think he’s following you? Like, he’s not trying to figure out who you are, is he?” Tucker asked. That only slightly freaked the super powered teen out. Just a little.

Actually scratch that, he was straight up freaked the fuck out.

“I think I gotta get him to stop. Or leave me alone before...before anything bad happens to him,” Danny said after a few minutes of panicking internally. “Or you,” Tucker added.

\-------

Ghost Writer didn’t usually venture to the human world, in fact he hadn’t been to the realm of the living since Charles Dickens was the number one best selling author in England, but he had to deliver his gratitude personally to the man who assisted Phantom in bringing his dear little niece home.  
He was a bit rusty but after searching and searching and searching, he eventually found his target. He did find it a bit odd that this Constantine man was in a very odd place and surrounded by some even odder people (what was with humans and colorful spandex?) but who was he to judge?  
The old ghost dropped his invisibility and cleared his throat to announce his presence. When all four men whipped around holding various items as weapons (three mugs and a weird bat-shapped thing) he raised his arms in surrender. 

“Calm, please1 I mean you no harm! I only wish to thank this Constantine fellow for helping Phantom bring my niece home,” he explained in a rushed, panicked tone.  
“Identify yourself,” Batman growled. The whites of his cowl were narrowed threateningly and if he weren’t already dead Ghost Writer may have died of fright right then and there. “My name is Ghost Writer, I am a ghost and acquaintance of Phantom’s,” the ghost began, “As I said before I wanted to thank this man here for getting my niece back to me. She was lost here in this realm before that,”

Barry, quick as ever, launched right into investigation mode not a second later, cutting of John’s answer before he could even start speaking. “We need you to tell us everything you can about Phantom. It's in his best interests, i promise you,” The Flash motioned to Clark to begin documenting everything they were told by Ghost Writer. Bruce kept his attention on the ghost, watching for any expressions that hinted towards a lie.

“Well there isn’t much to tell honestly. He showed up one day a year or so ago and since then he’s taken it upon himself to track down and combat any ghosts that try to wreak havoc on the human world. Sometimes he stops some human thieves or the likes, he fancies himself a bit of a hero I think,” Ghost Writer explained. “Probably has something to do with his obsession.” 

That got Clark to stop typing and turn his head around to blink at the other man, a strange look on his face. “Obsession?” the Kryptonian queried, pushing the ghost to elaborate on what he meant by that.  
“Every ghost has a strong obsession that keeps them bound to the afterlife. Some have incredibly bad ones while others have overwhelmingly good ones. Phantom falls into the later category, his obsession is...well its complicated. He wants to protect people of all species and do good, which he does, but....between you, me and his unofficial guardian Clockwork, he has a hero complex.”

“Three questions: why do you say that? Who is Clockwork? What makes Phantoms guardian Clockwork?” John interrupted before Barry or Clark could ask anything further.  
“Phantom is a special case, especially for a ghost. Never in my time in the Ghost Zone have I ever met someone who does their best to do the right thing or sacrifices themselves as much as Phantom does. He always has to help, or he will beat himself up over what he sees as a personal failure, so thats why I speculate that he has a hero complex,” Ghost Writer answered. “As for Clockwork, he is the master of time. He has been around since the beginning of existence. He sees all and as such he has taken it upon himself to take up the mantle as Phantom’s guardian and mentor. Personally I don’t think the boy could have a better person looking out for him!”

\------

The information the group had received from Ghost Writer in the last half an hour had been a great help to Barry. After going through everything Clark had documented on the Batcomputer, he came to a few unfortunate conclusions. 

“..... Well I think its safe to say that Phantom had to have died last year around when he showed up in this ‘Ghost Zone’ place, so if we were to look for a body anywhere in Amity Park, it may be very difficult. We’re probably looking for a really decomposed body or just...bones,” a chill ran down Barry’s spine as he spoke. He was incredibly uncomfortable with the thought of searching for a dead child. It made him feel sick to his stomach. “But that means that someone out there must know about a missing or deceased kid and hasn’t reported it....so that might require a bit more digging on our part.”

Bruce wasn’t planning on sleeping tonight anyway. After Dick got him from school later, and they finished patrolling, and he made sure his son had done his homework, he was going to spend the remainder of the night looking into every domestic abuse report, police documents pertaining to runaways or kidnappings and disappearances in Amity Park. 

“Before we wrap this up for the night I have to ask, do you know anything about how Phantom died?” Barry asked. He shot John a confused look when the Hell blazer coughed uncomfortably into his fist and turned away from the group. 

Turns out it was because he was avoiding Ghost Writers anger. The ghosts eye flashed a bright crimson for a moment and his lips pulled back into a snarl, exposing razor sharp teeth before he composed himself and shifted restlessly where he floated.”It is incredibly rude to ask such a thing of a ghost!” He snapped in a booming voice, making Barry and Clark flinch in surprise, “....but considering you know nothing of my species etiquette I will humor you as best I can.” The man sighed.

“From what I’ve seen of Phantom, he suffered a great deal of pain. Nobody should have experienced that much agony, let alone a poor child! In the short conversations surrounding this subject that he has had with myself and Clockwork he has.... mentioned that what happened to him was an accident. He wasn’t alone, but he has assured us that he was the only one that perished, unfortunately,” the more he spoke the more Clark and Bruce began to grow uneasy. Barry was fully immersed in noting everything Ghost Writer said to his memory and John..... John just felt sad. 

He never pitied people. He was an antisocial prick that loathed majority of humanity but even he could feel sorry for Phantom. An innocent child whose life was cut short abruptly. 

“I’ve got to go, my niece will be wondering where I’ve gone. I....hope what I’ve been able to tell you can be of help. Though it may be rude I do want to know what happened to him....and he deserves justice. If you want to learn anything else about him you’ll have to convince him to tell you himself. I’m sorry, this is all I know.”  
“You’ve been more help than you know. Thank you, and I’m sorry we offended you so much a moment ago. I hope it won’t leave any bad blood between us,” Clark politely offered his hand to the ghost to shake as he thanked him for his time. Ghost Writer nodded, shook his hand and was gone in the blink of an eye. 

“.... So I guess we’re back to square one with these police report investigations,” Barry groaned, laying his head on the keyboard of the Bat computer dramatically. “Maybe not if we can get Phantom to talk to us....and by us I mean either Clark or me, because no offense but Bruce you are.... a little unnerving to talk to at the best of times and I think you’re having an aneurysm, Barry.” John said, lighting a cigarette again and ignoring Bruce’s glare (again). “I would ask you to refrain from smoking in the Bat cave but I fear its beyond your capabilities, Mister Constantine,” Alfred scoffed as he made his way down the stairway into the Bat cave, a fresh pot of coffee on a tray with an assortment of sandwiches prepared for the busy group. 

John merely snorted in response to the jab. “So Supes are you up for a bitta ghost huntin’?”  
“....No but I don’t really have a choice, do I?”  
“Fuck no, mate.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wayne Manor is huge, Danny feels poor and Phantom makes a new friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy St. Patrick's day!! Special update because I was free for a few hours today to write. We are getting closer to Phantom's identity being discovered and more shenanigans ensuing.

Lunch rolled by quickly and before they knew it, the boys had nearly half of their respective reports and project parts done. Time flew when you were desperately trying to distract yourself from the terrifying possibility that your secret identity could be compromised at any moment, who knew? Coffee also played a major part in keeping the duo concentrated on their work.

“Wow. We did a lot more than I thought we would,” Tucker whistled, impressed with what they’d achieved so far. “That means we might actually finish our project before we head back home.....so now we can explore the city!” He quickly began shoving his notebook and laptop back into his school bag, Danny wasn’t far behind him. He scooped all of their empty wrappers and the coffee cups onto a tray and discarded the contents into a trashcan on the way out, shooting a quick “Thank you!” over his shoulder to the polite barista behind the counter.

“We’re gonna have to tell Sam. About the ‘situation’ later,” Danny said. The street was a little busier now than it was earlier but it wasn’t uncomfortably crowded. Regardless the boys were purposefully going to be careful about what they said to each other, who knew who was listening? At this point, Danny didn’t want to take any more risks.

Absolute secrecy until he was safe at home again.

“She already knows, I told her while we were working on the project,” Tucker told him while alternating between scrolling through his newsfeed on Instagram and messaging Bette. “She said she can call us later and try to help sort stuff out, for now we should try and make the most of the day,” he continued. Unbeknownst to Danny, Tucker had been working out a small meet-up between the two of them and Bette and Dick again. They did, after all, promise to stay in touch after the trip to Gotham Academy.

“....Sure. You got any ideas about what to do? I’m kinda drawing a blank here after all that,” Danny admitted. Mentally he was exhausted after going through most of the stages of grief after earliers horrifying realisation. Physically he was still jacked up on coffee and food so he could go anywhere but he would be in a shit mood for the rest of the day. Maybe.

“Yep! We’re gonna go hang out with Bette and Dick. They just finished classes for the day, Dick said we can chill at his house for a while and before you yell at me, no I did _not_ ask him,” Tucker said with a grin that was far too triumphant for Danny’s liking.

It took a few seconds for his brain to catch up to what his best friend told him but when it did, he almost screamed. _”We’re going to Wayne Manor!?”_.

\-------

If Danny thought Gotham Academy made him feel poor then Wayne Manor made him feel like an unworthy serf trespassing on a king's land. Firstly, they were picked up by Dick and Bette in a Bentley that was driven by a butler. Secondly, they had to drive a good ten minutes out of inner-city Gotham before they got to the manor and thirdly, it took five entire minutes to even reach the front of the house once they drove through the towering gates to the mansion.

Quiet suddenly Danny was aware of how different he was from people like the Wayne’s. He grew up in kind of shady suburb and his parents technically didn’t really have jobs. As much as he loved his parents he was with Jazz on the whole ‘ghost hunting isn’t a real job’ thing- not for normal people, anyway. And their inventions didn’t really sell all that often or well, so he was acutely aware that his family were on the less well-off end of the economical spectrum. Tucker didn’t live that far up the street from him but his mom and dad actually worked- his mom was a teacher and his dad worked in an accounting agency. And then there was Sam. She was pretty rich, that was no secret, but she didn’t flaunt it at all which was kind of understandable given how she didn’t get along too well with her parents.

In any case Danny felt incredibly out of place right now and it took every fiber of his being not to turn tail and fly off. Dick was his friend and he had to be polite and if he were being completely honest, he just wanted to do dumb shit and forget about the day's events.

The other dark-haired boy lead the group inside and thanked the butler for bringing them back. The man- Alfred- was very polite but not in the same way most hired-help would be, or from what he assumed they would be like from how they were portrayed in the movies and books he’d read and watched. The old man was genuinely happy and that was nice, Danny supposed.

Dick led them into some sort of games room and told them to make themselves comfortable. Danny dropped his backpack in the corner behind the door and began wandering around the room in awe, taking in every board game box and playstation game in sight. This was amazing. “I know this is a little early in our friendship but..... guys we have got to play Monopoly,” Bette said as she began unboxing the game.

“We don’t have much of a choice if you’re already setting it up,” Tucker laughed. He grabbed a seat beside her and began helping her sort out the money, Dick and Danny soon joined them and got into a minor argument about the rules before the game even started.

“Dude everyone knows you can buy on the first round!” Danny claimed, turning halfway in his seat so he was facing Dick, who glared at him lightly with his arms crossed. “No way man! You can only buy after everyone’s gone around the board once! That's the official way of playing!”

“That’s not even in the rules!”

“Neither is your way!”

Before the argument could escalate further Tucker threw a handful of hotels at the two. “Ladies, ladies! You’re both beautiful! But for the sake of my sanity and actually playing the game, we’re gonna make it.....two rounds before anyone can buy, so that way you’re both wrong and we can get started,” Tucker declared, leaving no room for any further protests.

“Fine....but I wanna be the hat,” Dick relented.

“Gimme the plane. I wanna go nyoom,” Danny said, earning a snort from Bette in the process.

\------

Monopoly ended in an all-out war. Four corners of the room were taken up as bunkers with cushions or board games used to create walls to defend against incoming projectiles. Danny couldn’t remember how it had gotten to this but it was successfully after distracting him from his dilemma. “WAIT DON’T SHOOT!” He yelled as he stood up, holding his hands up above his head in surrender. “I need to use the bathroom, cease-fire for five minutes?”

“Hell no. But you can go, we won’t hit you until you’re back behind your wall!” Bette shot back. For the past ten minutes she was locked in an intense battle of throwing shit at one another with Tucker and she was winning.

Danny zipped through no-mans-land in the middle of the room and out the door. He’d already used the bathroom an hour ago so he knew where to go, straight down the hall and into the door on the right. He made his way down and into the bathroom and was out again in a few minutes. On his way back he was sidetracked, too busy looking at a text from his sister to watch where he was going when he accidentally walked right into none other than Mister Wayne himself.

Danny nearly fell over himself, while he was trying to apologise but he didn’t get very far with his stammered apology when Bruce laughed lightly and reassured him that it was alright.

“Nothing to apologise for, a harmless accident,” the billionaire said. “You must be a friend of Dicks.”

Danny quickly composed himself and thankfully remembered how to be respectful and well-mannered. He offered his hand with a smile and introduced himself. “Ah yeah, my name’s Daniel Fenton but most people call me Danny.” Bruce shook the boy's hand politely and shot back a pleasant smile of his own. “Pleasure to meet you, Danny. You probably get this a lot but your parents wouldn’t happen to be Madeline and Jack Fenton, would they?”

The teen blinked a few times before he barely contained a snort. “Yeah, those are my parents alright, guessing they were in the news here when they were at that tech convention a few months back,” He answered. “Yes, but I did meet them at the con. I was very impressed with their work,” Bruce told him. “Its truly fascinating how they’ve created so many devices that can lock onto a unique DNA signature,”

As much as Danny complained about his parents work not doing much in the long run, because in all honesty it only worked on ghosts and the demand for their tech was ridiculously low, he was very proud of their genius and skills. His dad could fix a broken down car in about twenty minutes with only half the components he actually needed, and his mom had a PhD. in mathematics.

“They’re pretty dedicated to their work,” Danny admitted, “and they don’t give up on something once they’ve started it.”

“That's a very admirable work ethic. Anyway I won’t keep you from your fun, it was wonderful to meet you, Danny, I hope you enjoy the rest of your day,” Bruce nodded before moving to the side to allow Danny to pass through.

The teen returned to the battle in a starstruck daze, only to be knocked out of it by Bette’s shoe accidentally hitting him in the side of the head. “Ow!”

\-------

Later that night once back inside the hostel room Danny and Tucker dove straight into a discord call with Sam. The trio were freaking out about how unsettling it was to see Constantine so much in such a short amount of time.

Danny’s external webcam was stuck on top of Tucker’s laptop screen, the calls audio was cranked to the max and the three teens were trying to come up with a plan to throw the paranormal investigator off their scent- well, mainly Danny’s. Tucker and Sam were fine until proven otherwise.

“Tell him part of the truth,” Sam suggested, fingers sweeping across her keyboard quickly while she did a little bit sleuthing on the other end of the call. “And what part would that be exactly? ‘Cause no offense I don’t think telling him any part of it is a good idea!” Danny huffed in exasperation, pacing around the small room anxiously. He had never needed to worry about people outside of Tucker and Sam finding out about his secret alter ego yet, but all it took was some random trenchcoated man being uncomfortable with him being a dead teenage hero to make Danny panic more than a pop quiz on a Friday afternoon before winter break.

“Sam has a point. Maybe you can tell him, like, a rough draft of what happened?” Tucker shrugged. “Be like ‘hey so I kind of perished in a lab accident, I don’t even remember where it was or how it happened but here I am!’ If he asks if anyone misses you or whatever you could say you were an orphan. Adults eat that up all the time,”

Danny continued to pace for a few moments as he silently weighed the pros and cons of Tucker and Sam’s idea in his head. On one hand it could work exactly as they hoped it would, but on the other it might raise even more suspicion on the conman’s end. But he didn’t really have any better ideas so he would have to settle for telling a half-truth. He’d deal with whatever happened after that as well as he could.

“Try not to worry about it too much for now though, we’ve got a plan set and its not like you can just find Constantine right now. You don’t know Gotham as well as you do Amity Park, plus whos to say he’s still even in the city? He could have left after you brought the Ghost Writer’s niece back to the Ghost Zone.” Ever the voice of reason Sam’s words covered Danny’s worry in a blanket of calm positivity.

With a sigh the halfa ceased his pacing, rubbing at his eyes tiredly with the balls of his palms. “Yeah you’re right. He’s probably gone already,” Danny mumbled. “Probably. I couldn’t find much on him online, all I can see is everything we already know; he’s a paranormal investigator.....which in hindsight really isn’t much,” Sam huffed in dissatisfaction.

So far from what she could see Constantine had no online presence and had barely anything tied to his name. No social media in this day and age? That was annoying but very accurate for a middle-aged man, especially one in such a niche profession as him.

“So..... I guess we gotta wait until I see him again,” Danny shrugged. What else could the three of them do? It wasn’t like they were professional detectives, none of them knew how to track down someone without the internet. “I guess we do..... now I don’t know about you guys but I’m going to take care of Danny’s Instagram because the state of it makes me cry inside,” Tucker said as he snatched Danny’s phone from him before he could react.

“Oh come on its not that bad!”

“You don’t even have a bio! You need my help!”

“.....while we’re at it I’m making you a Twitter,” Sam snorted from behind the screen.

All Danny could do was throw his hands up in defeat. “Have you guys no faith in me at all?” When he received no response he scoffed in feigned pain. “Wooooow you guys wound me! I’m going for a fly, don’t wait up if I’m not back by ten,”

With that he transformed into Phantom in a flash of bright light and floated through the closed window and out into the night.

\------

Gotham by night was a completely different experience than during the day. Initially Danny had been skeptical of the city’s reputation for being one of the most dangerous places on earth, but after witnessing Robin effortlessly take down a group of freaks in clown masks and barley avoid getting shot, he reevaluated his stance on the city.

Considering he’d already met Batman the night before he saw no harm in introducing himself to Robin while he was in town. Maybe he might even gain a new ally! Teenage heroes had to stick together, right?

Danny waited until Robin had zipped away with one of his grapple hooks and followed him up to the top of a building. Once the other boy crouched down to observe the street below, Danny allowed himself to appear a few feet behind him. He cleared his throat to announce his presence in order not to startle the other boy, waving awkwardly when Robin’s head spun around immediately.

The whites of his domino mask widened as a wide smile spread across his face. In the last day and a half, Robin had heard about Batman’s newest case. He hadn’t been given all the details, just that he and an assortment of League members were investigating the appearance of a new possible meta-human. So naturally, when Dick learned of this possible meta-human’s name he researched him and found out that he was actually a ghost. A ghost hero. How cool was that?

“You’re Phantom, right?” Dick asked. He jumped down from the ledge of the roof and turned to approach the ghost kid. “That's me, your friendly neighborhood ghost boy. And you’re Robin,” Danny nodded. Being in the presence of one of the world's greatest detectives and heroes was a little unnerving but Danny managed to keep his composure by reminding himself that he, too, was a hero....albeit on a smaller scale but still a hero!

“Y’know I’ve never met a ghost but from all the horror movies I’ve seen I thought you’d be a lot scarier,” Robin joked with a lighthearted chuckle. Placing a gloved hand over his chest where his heart would be Phantom mocked a groan of pain. “Ouch! That one actually hurt, but I’m glad you’re not scared of me. Kinda sucks being seen as something scary when all I wanna do is help,” the white-haired boy admitted in a defeated sigh.

While his human life was easier thanks to Sam and Tucker sticking with him and remaining his best friends since they met in middle school when he was Phantom he had very few people he could rely on. Clockwork didn’t actively fight and Plasmius was....a barrel of crazy when he got into one of his moods, so for the most part he was alone. And it really didn’t help that he was technically king of all ghosts now, having defeated Pariah Dark, but until he was older and better suited to handling the power of the Ring of Rage and Crown of Fire, Clockwork stored it away. Still, the title remained and it made it much harder to interact with other ghosts that weren’t hellbent on killing him because they were afraid he would turn out like Pariah Dark and become some kind of tyrant.

“Anyone who’s afraid of you is an idiot. You help a lot of people and I’m sure they appreciate you and your efforts,” Robin pointed out with a huff. Some people were ungrateful. “Anyway what brings you to Gotham? Don’t you usually hang around Amity Park?

“I go wherever I gotta. I mainly deal with ghosts and other spooky stuff, I heard about a haunted doll here the other day so I came to see what it was,” Phantom explained, “turns out it was a friend of mine who got stuck in the doll. I got her out, brought her home, and then came back ‘cause this place is pretty interesting.”

At that Robin made a noise of interest. He was put on patrol of the east side of Gotham for the next three hours but Batman didn’t say he had to do it alone. A devious grin spread across his face as an idea began to form in his mischievous brain. “You wanna help me out for the night? You can see more of Gotham, maybe even get some people to like you a little more,” Robin suggested in a sing-song voice. Gothamite’s were known to be grateful to anyone who wasn’t trying to kill them or hurt them in some way. The bar was painfully low but it might help Phantom’s public image to be seen in a positive light in Gotham of all places.

“You’ve got yourself a deal, Robin,” Phantom grinned.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny meets the boy scout and answers as few questions.   
Robin schemes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this to the Anastasia movie soundtrack (specifically: Reminiscing with Grandma) at 2 AM. Anyway its finally happened! The group have their answers! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter as much as the last one and as always thank you so much for your reviews and appreciation! <3 I love you guys and your reactions to each update.

Phantom was no stranger to fighting, hell his entire shtick was being a crime fighting ghost-kid, but he was highly inexperienced when it came to fighting human enemies. Sure he occasionally dealt with Dash whenever the jock decided to make his life a living hell or whenever his parents and the Guys in White or Valerie tried to get him but overall he was.....not great. 

He got the job done, of course, but he failed to reign in his strength once or twice and knocked out his opponent with a single punch. He winced when the large goon collided with the wall behind him, sliding to the floor unconsciously, body limp, his nose bleeding and broken. “That’s one hell of a punch you got there,” Robin remarked as he flipped over Phantom’s head, landing a carefully aimed kicked at the remaining thugs hand to disarm him. The gun that had been in the man’s hand flew out of his grasp and slide across the alleyway floor and under a dumpster. “Didn’t mean to hit him that hard,” the halfa replied with a grimace. 

Well. He was a bad guy so he sort of deserved it. 

In no time at all the trio of thugs were rounded up and secured to a lamppost, ready for Gotham PD to pick up after the duo ran off. Danny flew alongside the boy wonder as they traversed through the city, watching him swing from rooftop to rooftop with ease. It left him in awe of the other boys skill and acrobatic talent. Robin definitely lived up to his namesake. He practically flew through the air like it was second nature to him, no fear of falling or worries about how high up he was. 

“You make it look so easy,” Phantom said. Robin soared past him with a light laugh before propelling himself upwards in a flip, landing steadily on one of Gotham Cathedral’s many flying buttress's. “Its easy for me but that’s because I’ve been doing the whole hero thing since I was eight years old,” Robin shrugged, dropping down to sit on the beam with his legs dangling off the side. Phantom chose to float in front of him in a relaxed position, legs stretched out behind him as if he were laying on his stomach and his hands under his chin. “Really? That’s a hell of a long time dude!” Phantom blurted out. A little bit of a smug smirk stretched across Robin’s face at the other boys surprise. “Five years and counting,” he stated proudly, “speaking of, how long have you been....you know...” He didn’t know how to phrase his question.

On one hand he wanted to know when Phantom first started committing his heroic deeds but on the other he felt like that was like asking how he became a ghost in the first place. Phantom seemed to sense his inner discomfort and answered him anyway. “Oh about a year ago. I’m still learning the ins and outs of it but I’m getting there,” the white-haired boy answered with a shrug of his shoulders.   
“For a rookie you’re not bad! If you ever want some pointers or need backup you can always count on your buddy the boy wonder,” Robin grinned. It was always nice to meet heroes his own age, there was a serious shortage of them and for good reason, but it was nice nevertheless. He reached into one of the pouches on his utility belt and pulled out his communicator, throwing it to his new companion. “You keep that one, we have a lot more at the cave so I can call you later and tell you how to set it up,”

Phantom inspected the gadget with enthusiasm. It was about the size of his phone and it seemed like it operated the same way as most mobiles, it even had a USB charging port at the bottom of it. “Oh wow, thanks! I’ll make sure not to lose it!” He promised. He stored the device in his left pocket, silently glad his hazmat suit actually had pockets he could use in this form. 

“Nice work, Robin” 

Uh oh.

\------

Okay so maybe Robin should have been completely honest with Phantom from the get-go but he never asked him what he was doing. Earlier in the night Dick had managed to convince his father to let him help the group find Phantom. His main and only point during the ensuing argument was that he could appeal to the ghost boy, since he was about the same age as him from the profile Flash had made on him. “Just let me try and talk to him and then Supes and Constantine can come and ask him all of their questions,” Dick had argued. He was just as stubborn as Bruce, if not much more, and eventually his father had given in, on the one condition that he gave the other boy a communicator through any means necessary.

Bruce wasn’t keen on the idea of Phantom being in trouble and not having any help to call for.

And now here Supes and Constantine were, maintaining a comfortable distance so as not to scare the ghost-kid off.   
Phantom’s eyes practically bore holes into Robin’s skull, the glare he was giving him was damn near terrifying. The halfa managed to compose himself after a few minutes of tense silence. “....Hi John, mister Superman,” he greeted in as even a tone he could manage at the moment despite how angry he was. He felt a little bit betrayed. 

“Hey kid,” John nodded stiffly from his perch atop a buttress a few rows away. “I’ll skip right to the point. We’ve a few questions we need you to answer, purely because a few of the Justice League are worried ‘bout you,” Constantine explained. He could practically feel Superman straining to keep himself from hugging Phantom, the man had such a bloody bleeding heart it made John feel gross inside, and not in the good way. 

On the outside he may have seemed indifferent if not a bit cold, however internally Danny was freaking the fuck out. He had two options; he could tun and deal with this shit another time because he undoubtedly would have to since the _Justice League_ were now interested in him, or he could deal with it right now.

He composed himself with a deep breath and floated upright, arms crossed over his chest and his attention fully focused on Constantine and Superman. “Fine,” he relented, “what do you need to know?”

John hesitated for a moment. Phantom had told him before that it was rude to ask about a ghosts death, and having experienced his anger first hand he wasn’t overly fond of asking him how he had died, but they needed to know. To put their minds at ease and hopefully solve his case.  
Clark beat him to the query before he could think of a way to phrase it.

“We just want to know what happened to you,” the kryptonian replied in a surprisingly gentle manner. If John hadn’t seen him talking he wouldn’t have assumed Superman said anything. 

John braced himself for the outburst of rage that should have followed that...except he was met with calm, even words.   
“What you need to understand is that you won’t find anything to do with how i died,” Phantom started, “because it was never made public and never will be. Not for any malicious reason but because it doesn’t make sense.”

Oh man explaining his entire existence without giving away everything was going to be a lot harder than he initially imagined it would be. Damn it. Why’d he have to have superpowers? 

“It was....a lab accident. I used to help someone out with building equipment and testing small inventions out, I loved it,” he continued. He still loved helping his parents whenever he could even if he thought it was a waste of their time. “I pressed the wrong button on something and then poof,” he released a small blast of ectoplasm into the air, imitating an explosion, “my physical body was gone but I still existed in this form.” 

Clark’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion. “Did.....did no one look for you?” he asked hesitantly. Phantom merely blinked back at him. “They didn’t have to. The two people that were there saw me like this, so they know I’m _technically_ okay.”   
“What about your parents?....You do have parents, right?...Did have parents?”Clark pushed, his frown deepening in displeasure. “I did but they weren’t involved in my life.” Phantom shrugged.

A lie he was sure would bite him in the ass later on in life but for now it would do. 

Superman mulled over the information silently. “Right, well I think that sorts everything,” Constantine announced in a voice that was far too cheery for the situation. “Think its ‘bout past your bedtime, Robin,” he joked, receiving a snort from the aforementioned kid. “I’ll start taking orders from you when you stop smoking,” the boy wonder shot back with a laugh. 

“Somehow I think we’re gonna be waiting an eternity for that,”Phantom remarked with a cheeky grin. He’d gotten over the sense of betrayal he felt towards Robin pretty quickly. He was only trying to help and really, he couldn’t blame him. 

\-------

Danny had been intending to go back to the hostel after the nights events however he was easily convinced to join the trio back at the Batcave, with Batman’s blessing of course. He thought they would fly there or something but Constantine warped them to their destination in the blink of an eye.   
Phantom had no time to dwell on the queasy feeling rumbling in his stomach because he was too busy gawking in awe at the Batcave. It was incredible! So big and so high-tech he felt like he was in the coolest place on earth. Scratch that, he was. 

“Well I’ll be damned he really does glow,” a voice remarked. Danny’s attention was drawn towards its owner, the Flash himself! His eyes lit up in excitement and he couldn’t stop the gleeful childish smile that consumed his face. “You’re the Flash!” He all but yelled, spinning around until he was facing Superman. “-and you’re Superman!” He yelled again. Talk about a late reaction.  
Said hero could only smile and chuckle at his excitement. “Its nice to meet you, son,” he replied.

“I hope your friend enjoyed the picture,” Batman commented from his seat at the Batcomputer, his voice even and cool to John and Danny but to Robin and Clark he sounded amused.   
“Oh uh- she did, thank you!” Phantom stammered. His face twinged a light green in embarrassment rather than the usual pink that humans turned. 

Robin squinted at him for a second before he reached out and poked him in the cheek. “You okay? You look kinda sick, dude,” He asked.   
“That's just my face,” Phantom answered with a deadpan expression. 

“My bad, bro,”


End file.
